Brave New World
by Bluetech
Summary: "We have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants peace."
1. Welcome to DEATH

**A/N: This announcement has been a long time coming. ****This is going to be my last work for Rio, but I will still be hanging around this site, so no worries.**

**Happy Feet 2 is what I will focus on next, but that's two months away...**

**I intend to use this story as a means to "go out with a bang," and I hope to live up to that expectation.**

**Just so you know, this story was inspired in part by: The Amazing World Of Gumball, DeviantArt by Adry53, "Love on the Battlefield" by fellow writer The Scarlet Macaw, and last but never least, the mind of yours truly.**

**Without further ado, here it is...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1:Welcome to D.E.A.T.H.<strong>

The passage of time is indeed a primordial force. Nothing ever stays the same; everything is altered, in one way or another, by the shifting sands of time. That fact was glaringly evident in the reduced Solar System in which Earth resides.

The cool red Sun - half as large and a quarter as bright as it was 40 years ago – maintains in orbit four planets out of the individual nine. This profound reorganization came about in 2100, when a vagrant black hole swept by the Solar System on an unexpected visit.

Pluto was devoured, Uranus was cast into Neptune, and Saturn was merged with Jupiter. The gravity of the black hole siphoned off half of the mass of the Sun. The Earth would have frozen over if it had not been drawn closer to the Sun, allowing the reddish light to continue to warm the planet.

In the process, the Moon, Mercury, and Venus were drawn into the now shrunken star, and Mars began to orbit the Earth, albeit a bit too close for comfort.

On this grand scale, the Solar System was a strange place. Down on Earth, that strangeness was mirrored in full.

The planet was buried under a burgeoning population of 12 billion humans. Bullet-shaped vehicles drifted through the sky in an endless dance; buildings soared into the sky and seemed to scrape the clouds.

True, all of the original continents and countries still existed; the great cities like Paris, New York, and Rome still stood undeterred.

But in areas where there is triumph, in others there is failure. Many great cities had been brought to their knees by the War, futuristic ghost towns that harbored nothing but the scorched shells of tarnished buildings and streets of corpses.

Rio de Janeiro was one of those places.

Stray animals sniffed along the cracked pavement and decomposing bodies for scraps of food. Lone fires burned here and there, tainting the crimson sky with pillars of black. Machines cloaked in bird feathers patrolled the streets, their robotic eyes scanning every direction for any signs of danger.

In short, it was the farthest thing from a paradise imaginable; equivalent to a comparison between Heaven and Hell.

The surrounding rain-forest was a vast improvement, still reasonably populated with the natural flora and fauna that had existed there for centuries. Bare spots devoid of plant life were reminders of the skirmishes fought since 2090, the year the War started.

The disaster with the black hole in 2100 halted the conflict and allowed both sides to lick their wounds.

The fear of bombardment by the scattering of the Asteroid Belt caused the world's leading nations to send up orbital satellites to defend against the onslaught. The catastrophe was averted, and the 75 strong orbital fleet had fallen into dormancy by 2120. Every so often, the drifting satellites would catch the glare of the Sun and twinkle brightly in the sky.

The scarred still jungle teemed with indigenous life, a ring of verdant emerald growth that surrounded the desolate city. In and around the bay of Rio de Janeiro, a more fortuitous and unforgiving population was stationed. That polluted and sickening expanse of water was hidden beneath a monumental dome of steel tipped with flashing signal towers.

A series of tubes stretched from that hemisphere of metal in a myriad of paths. Some of the tubes crossed the bay and terminated in the shallow sea beyond, connected to smaller structures domed like the parent one in the bay. Others lead up to the black domes that topped the small mountains like Corcovado and Sugarloaf.

The Christ the Redeemer statue had been toppled to make room for one such mini-base. Its fragmented remains lay strewn about the bottom of its former home.

The remaining enclosed tubes led into the jungle and merged with yet more mini-bases.

The Machines had began construction of this interconnected network in 2090, the year the city was destroyed. It had been finished by 2110, and was still functioning just as smoothly now as it had been 30 years ago. This was the base of the Machines born from the efforts of the Creators.

It was led by the two first Machines ever created: the Precursors. They now managed an army in the five figure range, but even this impressive feat of engineering did not hold the entire army. The entire state of Brazil had been evacuated after the War, and the Precursors had claimed it as their own.

Brazil now functioned as the most expansive military base _ever_ conceived and implemented.

The city-sized base in Rio was merely the headquarters of the operation. Life here was not easy, for the Traitors and teir profoundly evil Machines posed a constant threat. They could hide in broken-down buildings, conceal themselves in the treetops of the jungle, and even find a hidden entry into the base itself and wreak havoc.

Any of the Machines that called the base their home could be attacked and slaughtered, should they be in the wrong place at the wrong time. At times, life was nowhere near easy here. But the Precursors and their army had a war to win, _the _War to win, and that is how things were.

Death was lurking all around the city, but a strong sense of triumph resonated within every soldier that fought for the Precursors and the force of good. There were peaceful days where the Machines could wander the jungles and enjoy the splendor, or just sit in the base and talk with their family and friends.

There were times to enjoy the gift of life, and other times when that gift must be taken away.

Nonetheless, the Machines in Rio ultimately hope to eradicate the Traitors and their army and restore peace to the world. The War is still being fought 50 years after its initiation, but their efforts are unswerving with the hope that _they _will be the ones to end it.

Their motto is "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."

And this is their story...

* * *

><p>In the bay of Rio, deep inside the base known as D.E.A.T.H. – an acronym for the Defense of Earth by the Annihilation of all Traitorous Half-breeds – lies a central room seventy feet long and seventy feet wide, capped by a roof twenty feet high.<p>

In one corner, two massive Machines lay dormant, nested side by side as if in a state of sleep. Two serpents slither towards them, a bright blue cylinder clutched in each of their jaws.

"It is time that we wake the Commanders. They will not be too pleased if we fail to do so at the proper time." said the serpent on the left.

"You worry too much, Raxus! They value and care for us deeply. What do you think they will do, Terminate us?" said the other, exasperation in her voice.

"Not at all, Nixus. I just don't take kindly to not living up to my Commander's wishes."

"Just relax, friend." said Nixus as she nudged the other with her head.

"Maybe if we spent less time talking, you wouldn't have to worry, would you?"

"I see your point. What would I do without you?"

"You'd get Terminated, that's what!" mocked the female.

"Most likely. Alright, let's plug these Cores in..."

The two metal serpents lifted their heads to eye level with the silent Machines and carefully opened a small hatch that lay between their eyes. They each placed a glowing Core into the chamber behind the hatch and slid the opening shut.

A soft buzzing resounded, and the eyes of the two Machines filled with a hue the exact same as the Core. There were no pupils or irises; the eyes were just glowing orbs of intense color.

After a slight pause, the bird-shaped forms stirred and stood up. They stretched their enormous wings – they each possessed a seven-foot wingspan – and blinked several times. They gazed around quickly before looking at the two serpents that lay coiled up before them.

"Good morning, Nixus!" greeted the Machine on the left.

"Good morning, Raxus!" intoned the other.

The two serpents each replied, "Likewise, Commander."

The bird on the right turned to its companion and said warmly, "How was your Shut-down, Blu?"

"Decent, Jewel. Yours?"

"I may not need it anymore, but it provides a welcome escape from the troubles of our world."

"I agree completely, honey."

Jewel flashed Blu an acceptant smile before focusing back on the serpents.

"Is it time to get started already?"

"Indeed it is, Commander. The Sun has just emerged above the horizon." replied Raxus.

"Well then, we have no time to waste. We must meet with our children immediately!"

"You are always one step ahead of me! Do you really require my presence anymore?"

"I apologize, Nixus! And I will always require your presence, as much as I require my timeless mate to be by my side."

Blu pulled Jewel close with his sweeping wing and kissed her softly.

"Did I recall you saying something about a meeting with our children?" said Jewel with a playful voice.

"Oh, so you don't enjoy me kissing you?"

"Of course I do! It's just that there's a...you know... a war going on out there." replied Jewel, her tone matter-of-fact.

"Oh, how could I forget? Let's get down to business then..."

Blu and Jewel crossed the room with Nixus and Raxus in tow.

Their claws – which were incredibly tiny in their former life and ill-suited for doing damage – were remodeled as five-inch blades of death. They carried a solid curve, but not so much as to impede walking.

The mechanized bodies of Blu and Jewel were by no means as light as they appeared. They were fifty pound monsters, the heaviest Machines the Creators had ever built. Had it not been for the sturdy floors of the base, they would have broken through, fallen into the bay and met a most grisly Termination.

Their footsteps were still audible, and the dull thumps alerted the other soldiers to their presence. They passed through the autonomous sliding doors and began the trek down a semi-busy hall.

All of the birds who caught sight of Blu and Jewel instantly stood at attention, one wing raised to their foreheads in salute. Once they had passed they resumed their former activities.

The journey from their quarters – which lay at the top of the dome - to the Control Room - which occupied the lowest floor of the structure - was confusing, but the path had been easily memorized by their computerized brains. A set of elevators allowed travel between the various floors, and for Blu and Jewel's case, the journey took twenty minutes.

They emerged from the final elevator and traveled down a short hall, and upon reaching an imposing set of cold steel doors, they paused. Two Scarlet Macaws stood on each side, their stone-still bodies at attention.

"Good morning, Commanders." they replied stoically.

"At ease, soldiers." said Jewel.

The Scarlet Macaws dropped their wings and assumed a more causal pose.

"What is your first order of business today, Commanders?" queried one of the macaws.

"We need to speak with the 1st Enclave, Andrew."

"Yes ma'am. Right this way."

"Thank you, Gabriel." said Blu.

The macaw named Gabriel punched a a button on the wall, and the doors slid open silently. Gabriel and Andrew led them out into the Control Room and turned to the left. The eerie green glow from banks of monitoring screens and radar readouts lit the room nicely.

Macaws of all species milled about, while others were glued to their chairs, their eyes focused intently on their respective screens. A gentle ambiance of beeps and clicks was all that could be heard in the enormous room – almost equal in size to Blu and Jewel's quarters.

It was an irony that peace of this magnitude could be encountered in a place so stricken by war.

Nevertheless, a cloud of tension hung in the air, for at any moment an unknown party could show up on the radar displays or be caught by the surveillance cameras that littered the jungle and nearby mountains.

All of the birds momentarily broke away from their objectives and turned to face the Precursors and their personal guard. A sense of pride welled up in Blu and Jewel, for they felt the unswerving loyalty and dedication of their inferiors conveyed in their stares.

They left the room and traveled a short ways into another hall. They then turned to the right and entered a third set of doors, which were sealed shut by means of a keypad. The two macaws lined themselves up on the right side of the door, opposite from the keypad.

"We have arrived, Commanders. You may now proceed."

"Thank you, Andrew." replied Blu.

He marched forward to the keypad and deftly punched in the 25 digit pass-code. This Meeting Room was second in privacy to only the space where Blu and Jewel resided.

A robotic voice declared, "Access granted. Welcome, Commanders."

The quartet of cyborgs left the Scarlet Macaws behind and marched into the space. More screens adorned the walls, though not as many as were present in the Control Room.

A large steel table was bolted to the floor, and stacks of military documents were strewn across its surface.

Six Spix's Macaws swiveled away from the screens and approached Blu and Jewel merrily.

"How are my children fairing? I trust that all is well with you."

"Indeed it is, father!" replied one of the females.

"Now, have any suspicious parties been detected in the area?"

A serious expression grew on each of the six macaws' faces.

"Yes, mother. Come and look." said one of the males.

The six birds returned to their posts, and their parents quickly followed. The snakes reared up over Blu and Jewel from behind, peering with equal fervor at the row of screens.

"At 0400 hours, radar detected movement in sector J7. For some reason, it hasn't moved at all."

Each time the neon-green line swept out a circle, a trio of squares flashed on the display to the west of the outpost, and the position coordinates just next to the square showed no sign of movement.

"Is it a friendly, Vicente?" asked Jewel.

"No way. Nobody left the base all night long. I have a hunch its some of the Traitors' Machines. We thought they were scouting the jungle, but they never moved."

"Look over here at one of the camera feeds."

A female motioned to one of the screens with her wing. She zoomed the camera in and centered the viewfinder on a boring patch of jungle.

"I don't see anything, Josefina."

"Just watch, mother!" declared her daughter.

A collective gasp escaped from Blu and Jewel's beaks, and the snakes behind them hissed. A trio of Blue and Gold Macaws were crouched in a small grove. They were each facing a different direction, as if waiting for something to appear.

"You must be correct, Josefina. I can recognize those evil Traitors anywhere!"

"What are we going to do? We have no clue as to what they're up to."

"I'll tell you what we're going to do, Stefano!" said Blu pointedly.

"I am going to go investigate those macaws. I think it would be wise for me to head out at once. Nixus can accompany me."

He strode for the door with Nixus just behind.

"I'm coming with you, my love."

Blu stopped abruptly and saw his mate walking rapidly towards him. Raxus was slithering along beside her.

"I would rather you not, honey. It's just three puny Machines. I can find out what they're doing, and if not, kill them with little trouble."

"I am worried for your safety. Two Precursors are better than one, after all."

"Trust me, Jewel. Nixus and I can handle this. We won't be gone for longer than half an hour. You should stay here with our children and track us."

His tone was stern, but dripping with tenderness.

"Fine. I will stay here and monitor you with the radar. Just please be careful, Blu."

"Of course. I will do my best to live up to your request."

"What if you don't return after thirty minutes?"

A slight tinge of panic was evident in her words. As the door parted to let Blu and Nixus out, he countered, "Bring the entire 1st Enclave..."

After a few anxious elevator rides and a five minute walk, the two Machines found themselves on the desolate northern beach of Rio. A thick silence pervaded the atmosphere, save for the sound of the gently rolling waves.

The Sun was shining just above the dome of the central base to the east, its rich red light glinting off of the metal. The looming orb of Mars sat in the southern sky, half of its surface hidden away by shadow due to its position relative to the Sun.

The pair of Machines strode towards the north, straight for the location of the disturbance on the radar. They moved stealthily and carefully through the undergrowth, making as little noise as possible for fear of startling the wildlife.

True, a fifty pound tungsten carbide bird and a ten foot snake were already difficult to conceal, and the leaf litter that buried the floor did not help.

Their robotic eyes scanned the area in the manner of a HUD, and the influx of data on the virtual screens was confusing to say the least. They kept their finely tuned senses alert for any movement, but so far none was spotted.

A small beep alerted Blu that he was being contacted, and a small antenna popped out from his right shoulder.

"Is everything alright, Blu? What have you found?"

He heard Jewel's soothing voice in his head, since that is how they were designed to talk to each other. The antenna served to receive her voice and transmit his own.

He lowered his voice drastically and said, "Just fine, honey. How far away are we from the target zone?"

"One mile."

"Thanks. I'll keep you posted. Blu out."

The antenna drew back inside his body, and he nodded for Nixus to continue.

Five minutes into the walk, Jewel contacted him again. Only three-quarters of a mile separated the macaw and snake from their target. Blu and Nixus were hoping for the chance to down the macaws with their concealed weapons, but they would never get that chance.

As they crossed a small stream and entered a ten foot clearing, Blu stepped on a stray branch, which snapped loudly under his weight.

"Damn it! I think I just blew our cover. Hide, Nixus!"

They attempted to reach the border, but a searing orange laser blast burned the ground and stopped them cold. They tried to run the other way, only to be stopped once again by a wall of bullets that cratered the earth. The fire seemed to be coming from everywhere.

They froze where they stood, and the attack halted.

"We've been ambushed! What do we do now?"

"Try to make it back to HQ and warn the others. I'll take to the sky and circle around. Hopefully my distraction will enable you to get away."

"But I can't just leave you behind, Commander!"

"There's no time to argue. That's an order!"

She narrowed her eyes and replied, "Yes, Commander!"

Blu deployed the miniature turbofan engine from his lower back and brought it to life.

"Go now, Nixus!"

She had not retreated one foot when the attack resumed. She heard the sound of bullets burrowing into metal and an electric buzzing. She was not the one who had been hit.

She turned around, and to her horror, the crumpled form of Blu was sprawled out on the ground. Sparks were spouting from his wings and back, and his engine was smoking profusely. His eyes pleaded with her to go, but no sound came from his beak.

A red beam of energy burned into his back and emerged under his chest, causing his bright blue eyes to fade to black. A large explosion of sparks showered the clearing, and his head dropped to the ground and lay still. Nixus tore off into the undergrowth as fast as her body would carry her.

She had just witnessed her Commander and friend being Terminated, and unparalleled dread flooded her system.

_Oh Commander, I am so sorry! Just hold on, help is on the way!_

She popped out an antenna of her own and shouted, "Raxus, Commander and I were ambushed! I made it out, but he..." She couldn't finish the sentence. "Just... get Jewel and the 1st Enclave to sector J7 without delay!"

She hid her antenna swiftly and streaked towards the beach. She knew not if the attackers were planning on capturing him or not. She hoped that they had mistook him for a regular soldier and planned to leave him for dead. It was a grim hope, but it was all she had.

_We have to get him back! His capture will mean the eventual end of the war. The end of the war for us..._

* * *

><p>Back at the base, Jewel's six children – the constituents of the 1st Enclave – were monitoring their father's radar signal. Jewel had contacted her mate twice already, and everything was fine. She was now staring at the radar screen, and once they had moved within three-quarters of a mile to their target, the two squares stopped abruptly.<p>

"What happened?" she asked strongly.

"I don't know, mother."

"Are there any cameras in sector J7, Liliana?"

"No. The closest one is in Sector J6, and that's a quarter-mile to the west of them."

"What if he got attacked? What if he got ambushed?"

Jewel resorted to pacing back and forth behind their seats. One of her children got up and placed a sturdy wing on her.

"He'll be just fine, Mama. He's a skilled bird, and he has Nixus there to help him."

"I know you are trying to help me calm down Esperanza, but I am just so worried!"

"I've got movement!" shouted a male.

"What's going on, Stefano?"

"The two squares just split up, Mama. One of them is... trying to get away. Wait, it went back to the same spot. How odd."

"Commander! I've just received a transmission."

Jewel rushed over to Raxus as he replayed the data. Jewel's antenna jumped out and picked it up.

"Raxus, Commander and I were ambushed! I made it out, but he..."

The playback paused, and Jewel froze with fear.

"Just... get Jewel and the 1st Enclave to sector J7 without delay!"

An asteroid of dread slammed into Jewel's electronic brain, and she felt herself go limp. Raxus coiled up beneath her and broke her fall. Her six children were clustered around her in an instant.

"I was right!" she whimpered. "They've been ambushed. Nixus got away, but my mate didn't! We have to get over there!"

"Nixus advised me to stay behind. My speed of travel is not as fast as yours. Take your children and go, Commander! I will warn the rest of the base, should you ask for a counterattack."

She lifted herself off of Raxus and dashed for the door. Her children followed close behind. She and her offspring rode an elevator to the top of the dome - the only one that opened to the outside. Once they had all gathered, they deployed their engines and revved them to life.

"Once we get over there, draw your weapons. Shoot anything that moves that isn't friendly, understood?"

The sextet of macaws replied in unison, "Understood, Commander!"

Jewel flapped her massive wings to get into the sky, and then her turbofan took over. In mere seconds she was traveling at over one hundred miles an hour. A phalanx of macaws shredded the sky, their high-speed travel emitting a low pitched rumble that echoed across the bay...

They made it to the chosen sector in under thirty seconds, and their landing was all but inconspicuous. Their wings snapped several trees like matchsticks, and the crashing noise as the boughs met the ground was audible for nearly a mile.

The seven macaws advanced towards the ambush site steadily, each one brandishing a fearsome weapon that emerged from their backs and assumed firing position.

Jewel's advanced eyes spotted an image between the trunks of two trees, and she held out her wing to halt her children.

"What is it, Mama?" inquired her son in a near-silent voice.

"I see those Blu and Gold Macaws up there and..."

"And what?"

"And they're not alone. There's four others. Oh no, Blu!"

Jewel inched closer and spied the ruined form of her mate being poked and prodded by the seven enemy Machines.

Jewel was filled with a mechanized rage that yearned to be released.

Stefano drew up on her left side and declared, "It's seven on seven, Mama! Are we going to fight them?"

"It may be a seven on seven, but the fight won't be fair... for_ them_. We have to rescue your father. I'll pick a few of them off, and then we'll go in and kick the rest of their asses."

Jewel brought forth another of her weapons and targeted the two closest macaws. She pointed her Short-Range Laser at the left macaw and her semi-auto Assault Rifle at the other, making sure her shots would land in the most lethal places possible.

A bright blue beam of energy streamed from the laser on her left shoulder, and after it raked across the macaw's neck, the head dropped to the ground. She instantly shut off her laser and blasted off four shots at the other, piercing his head and sending sparks across the ground.

"Now, children!"

She broke free of the foliage and took aim at the remaining five macaws. She dispatched another with a point blank Rifle blast to the forehead, and as she whirled around amidst the sound of gunfire and screams of agony, she noticed all but one enemy macaw was left alive.

He had been de-winged by her daughter's laser, and she stood over him menacingly.

"I'll handle him, Liliana. Step away..."

She obeyed her mother and withdrew her massive talon from the Military Macaw's chest. The joints where his wings were once attached were shooting out sparks every few seconds, and their edges still glowed red from the heat that had severed them.

Jewel crushed him into the ground with her foot and glared down at him with endless rage.

"Did you do this to my mate, asshole?"

She picked up the macaw by his neck - he was only half her size and weighed not even a third of what she did - and held him out towards the smoldering body of Blu.

"No, I swear! It was my buddies! I had no part in this. Just let me go... I have a mate..."

She brought the macaw right up to her face and shouted, "You... are lying through your damn beak!"

She pushed the barrel of her Laser right up to his forehead in an intimidating fashion.

"Please, let me live! I didn't mean to! They told me to shoot..."

"Not going to happen, bitch! You owe me a life debt. You Terminated my mate, and I'm going to Terminate you."

The barrel of her laser began to glow blue, and the macaw grew frantic.

"No, don't kill me! I'll work for you. I'll join your army. I'll repair your mate..."

She narrowed her eyes, but through all of her anger, the macaw noticed an infinite sadness buried beneath them. In that moment, he knew what it felt like to lose your mate to war. He only wished that _his_ loving mate would keep him in her memory.

He sent up a silent prayer, and Jewel fired.

The laser burrowed through his chest and burst from his back, burning through the canopy and extending many miles into the air. His eyes darkened to the black of an abyss and his head went limp.

"Traitorous scum..."

She released her grip on the dead Machine and rushed to Blu's side, where her offspring were already gathered.

A series of holes and slits decorated his back, and one of the holes was set directly over his Scion – the sphere that housed his computerized brain and his _entire _essence of individuality.

That brain was a shrine of his personality, his thoughts, and all of the knowledge he had gathered since his transition from animal life to robotic life. The brain inside the Scion _was_ Blu, and it had apparently been melted by a laser.

He had been Terminated in the ambush - the Precursor's fancy word for being killed.

"He's dead. My Blu is dead. Damn you, you Traitors!"

Jewel collapsed onto her mate's cold alloy body and quivered uncontrollably. Being that she was mostly mechanical, she could not weep.

"It's okay, mother! Calm down!"

"How can I calm down... Vicente? He's... gone..."

"He has replacement Scions, remember? All we have to do is bring him home and have him repaired. Then we can give him another Scion and he'll be just fine!"

Jewel had forgotten all about that fact in the midst of the chaos.

She and Blu each possessed nine replacement Scions, plus the one already in each of their bodies, for a total of ten Scions each. Thus, they had ten "lives," and more Scions could be made at any time. Granted, the material the Scions were composed of was hard to come by, but as of now, they had nothing to worry about.

"Forgive me for losing control, children. It's just that... I hate to see him like this!"

"We forgive you, mother. We can carry him back to HQ and have him fixed before sunset."

"You're right. Well, we better get home. The entire base is probably on alert thanks to Nixus and Raxus."

Jewel deployed her engine and was just about to take off, but a tap on her shoulder caused her to re-fold her wings.

"What is it, son?"

"What are we going to do with these bodies?"

Every resource that they could find was valuable, and she would certainly not let such an easy harvest go to waste.

"Carry as many of them as you can. We're going to melt them down like scrap and gain some _real _use out of them..."

* * *

><p>The phalanx of macaws had made haste back to HQ, and the atmosphere inside the dome was brimming with anger and anxiousness. The soldiers were dying to get out and wreck their enemies, but Jewel quickly informed them the perpetrators had been dealt with.<p>

The base maintained a forge on a platform closest to the sunset - which now lay in the south, not the west - on the southern side of the dome. It jutted out over the bay like an irregularity, but that could not be helped. The noxious fumes and insidious heat that the forge belched out had to go _somewhere_.

Jewel and her children dropped the bodies off at the forge and instructed the metalworkers what needed to be done.

The seven ruined macaws were dropped into a furnace, and the Spix's Macaws watched as their enemies were reduced to liquid tungsten carbide. The red-hot metal dripped out slowly and was added to one of many storage crucibles for later use.

Blu was instantly set upon by the master metalworkers, and the gaping holes that perforated his body were carefully sealed with drops of liquid metal on the end of carefully-shaped rods.

Once he had been repaired and restored to working condition on the outside, the internal damage now needed to be addressed. He was taken to the highest floor and examined by another armada of equally-talented birds. Jewel and her children reluctantly stayed and watched.

As much as Jewel wanted to send her children off to appease the angered soldiers while Blu was operated on, they protested heavily, and she could not.

He was carefully separated by means of a precise seam that ran down the front side of his body. His splintered Scion was discarded, and the wires that had been sheared by the bullets were removed and replaced. The ordeal took over two hours, for he had suffered extensive damage in a number of places.

He would have been repaired faster, but Jewel did not want him to leave the lab in substandard condition. She insisted that he be double and triple-checked after the repair was complete; he had been a perfect Machine before he came in, and that is how she wanted him to leave.

In the middle of his reconstruction, Nixus and Raxus had appeared, and they were obviously stricken with grief. Nixus was feeling it harder than her companion, and Jewel assured her that none of it was her fault. Blu had sacrificed his life to save her, and although he would remain "dead" for only a few hours, the gravity of his choice was still apparent.

He treated Nixus as a friend and protector, and cherished her life as much as he cherished Jewel's. They had forged a powerful bond of servitude and loyalty, and in a perilous age such as this, those bonds were a necessity.

Nixus had left to retrieve one of Blu's Scions from a hidden compartment in his quarters, and being as it was only down the hall from the lab, she returned in less than five minutes.

Blu was sealed shut once more, and the Scion was inserted into a hatch in his chest. His eyes soon glowed with a heavenly blue light, and he jumped from the table and crushed his mate in an embrace that would have killed a human.

"Oh God, I missed you, Jewel!"

"I missed you too, Blu! I hope I never have to see you so... battered and lifeless ever again."

"If it meant saving one of our own, I would die all over again..."

He gave her a seductive kiss, and the other workers looked on in awe. This was a bird who loved others more than life itself, and they were proud to be led by him.

When he broke free from the kiss, he came face to face with his confidante, Nixus.

"I owe you my life, Commander. Had I been more alert, I might have been able to keep you safe. I feel that I have failed you in some way..."

"Do not let such degrading thoughts poison your Scion, Nixus. You owe me nothing but loyalty and companionship. There are tragedies that cannot be prevented, and this was one of them. You have not failed me, my friend, and in fact, your retrieval of my rescuers was quite the opposite. You accomplished your mission, and as such, the duplication secret I hold inside of me was kept just that: a secret."

Nixus took to heart what he had said – even though she lacked a true heart, her Scion was a reasonable substitute – and bowed her head in deference.

"I understand, Commander. I accept your praise with dignity, and I would gladly give my life for you, if the situation ever warranted that I do so."

"I know you would."

Blu turned to face the workers that had restored him and intoned, "Let this be a lesson to us all. Life is a delicate thing, and to give it up for another is the highest honor achievable. At times we may have lives to spare, and at times we may not. If that ever happens, greet your death with the belief that you did not die in vain; that you gave your final life in defense of a comrade, a brother at arms, a friend. This ridiculous war has already claimed so many lives, and the dire truth is that many more will be lost in the future. Jewel and I can't guarantee that all of you will get to see the day when the Traitors are cast into Hell, but I can guarantee that they _will _be cast. This planet is no place for those abominable humans and their fiendish Machines. They are nothing but a party of tyrants and their sycophantic slaves, and Hell will be glad to have them. This has been a chaotic day, but tonight, when the smile of Mars graces the star-dotted sky, sleep well, for the Sun will always rise again, and life will go on..."

Blu walked proudly from the room, and seven macaws and two snakes trailed in his wake. A loud cacophony of noise erupted, and Blu received several forceful slaps on his back from his children, along with a kiss from his mate.

He and his posse took a trip to the Control Room, and Jewel sent the two snakes off to have all of the soldiers gathered there. Over 200 showed up – as many as could be crammed into the space – and the rest waited next to any and all broadcast screens they could find.

Blu made sure that his speech would be heard by every base in the state of Brazil, and even the Traitors, if they were listening.

He then repeated his speech word for word, and at the end, he added the motto that his entire army lived by: "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."

In that crowded expanse, he was met with applause and cheering that shook the walls of their HQ.

Even though he did not know it, that same emotion was mirrored across all of the subsidiary bases in Brazil. His speech would be remembered for decades to come. He had re-established himself as a worthy leader, and a leader that was capable of accomplishing whatever task he desired to accomplish.

Be that as it may, he was merely a lone bird. He was nothing without his followers, his mate, and his family. He needed their support and strength to turn the tide of war. Judging by his reception there and throughout the state, he had all the support and strength he would ever need...

* * *

><p>After receiving several rounds of physical praise by many of the soldiers, Blu left the Control Room and traveled upstairs to the Meeting Room with his children. Nixus traveled with them. Jewel and Raxus, however, opted to stay in the Control Room and supervise for a few hours.<p>

At least a hundred soldiers were stationed in this room, for the massive amounts of data that the dozens of screens poured out warranted it. One of the digital clocks on the wall read 1430 hours.

Jewel and the snake were near the back of the room, merely watching and observing the banks of screens for any hostile parties.

The other soldiers knew she was there and they acknowledged her presence without slowing their activities.

They would say in passing, "How are you, Commander?" or "Your mate set a fine example of leadership this afternoon!" or "Do you plan to lead a scouting party in the evening? I would like to come."

She gave them honest and tender replies. The organization and discipline here was strict, but when they were not being attacked, Jewel was always laid-back and _almost _carefree.

Though her stance showed no indication of it, her brain was raging with questions and strategies. Most of them were concerned with the undetected ambush that took one of the lives of her mate. _How did the radar not detect them all? Why were they so afraid of his still body? Were they using a new stealth technology?_

There were so many inconsistencies and unknowns that Jewel didn't know where to begin.

She feared that more unplanned ambushes would be conducted in the future. As if the loss of life from regular face-to-face skirmishes and small-scale battles wasn't enough, their enemies were now conducting guerrilla warfare.

Some of the same concerns were taunting the snake as well, and he caught Jewel's attention with a hard stare.

"That ambush sure was odd, wasn't it, Commander?"

"Indeed, Raxus. Our radar should have detected them. There were just three in the morning, and then when we got to the site, there were four more. I just can't explain it."

"I think you know as well as I that this is not the last of them. There will be many more, and we have to watch our backs carefully when we leave the Base."

"What can we do to help combat these ambushes?"

Raxus lowered his head and affected a thoughtful gaze.

"Perhaps you should boost the number of soldiers in the scouting parties. The more eyes and ears they have, the better the chance that they will have of detecting hidden threats and countering them."

"I like your thinking, Raxus. Perhaps the team size should be doubled?"

"That sounds reasonable, Commander. When will you implement it?"

"Tonight, right as the sky turns black. I will deliver another state-wide broadcast."

Raxus nodded and looked back towards the screens.

The hours dragged on by, and not a single disturbance was reported.

_Perhaps those Traitors learned of some of their Machines' demise after the ambush_,mused Jewel._ They went into it with courageous hearts, but as soon as we found them, it became a suicide run. Serves those damn fools right! If they are brainless enough to harm one of our own, and my mate no less, they should expect retribution of the most primal type..._

* * *

><p>The time had advanced to 1925 hours, and although Jewel was devoting a great deal of energy to her watch, she was growing restless and needed to get out and stretch her wings. She went and visited her family in the upstairs Meeting Room and informed them that she would be going for a walkpatrol in the city.

Blu had wanted to accompany her, but she assured him that the city was safe; no hostile targets had been spotted since the ambush. He wished her good luck and bolstered her spirits with a goodbye kiss.

She and Raxus returned back to the Control Room and entered one of the decently-lit tunnels. They crossed the bay while inside that tunnel and ended up on the northern beach. It was a lonely strip of tarnished sand; a grim reminder of what once was.

Instead of continuing in the direction of the jungle, they turned to the north and walked slowly and carefully down the cracked and empty streets.

It was a dark and musty place, and only the Machines had the ability and the will to come here. They stopped in the middle of an intersection and scanned the area.

"I don't see or hear anything unusual. This patrol may actually turn out quite peaceful. What do you think, Raxus?"

"I agree, Commander. It is times like these when one truly doubts the purpose of war, of senseless killing and destruction. This city stood tall and proud in the 21st century, a gem on the coast of Brazil. Now, in the 22nd century, it is nothing but a rotting lump of coal, forever degraded and useless. All because of the wills of a few deranged men. All because of the Traitors..."

"And that is why _we_ will end them. We will rout their Machines and tear the humans limb from limb. We will rend flesh and rend metal, and their wills will crumble. We will not let up until they are _exterminated_ from this planet. Rest assured Raxus, we will triumph... one day..."

The bird and the snake nodded to each other and resumed their trek between the scorched buildings, their spirits high and their senses keen.

They journeyed deep into the city, and the smoldering husk of the stadium was visible a few blocks down the street. The pair of Machines turned to the left and began to walk toward it, but an echoing cry grabbed their attention. Jewel blocked the snake's advance with her outstretched wing.

"What was that?"

"It's coming from up ahead, Raxus. Let's go investigate."

"Do you think it's an enemy Machine?"

"No. It sounds too... normal..."

They continued down the street until it branched off to the left. The noise grew louder, and they turned down the side street, now growing wary. They came to a stop in front of a wrecked restaurant, the noise now plainly audible.

"It's coming from in there! Stay outside and keep watch. I'll be right back."

"Very well, Commander. Stay safe."

The snake coiled up and faced away from the restaurant, reaching seven feet into the air and creating his own personal vantage point.

Jewel stepped over the edge of the windowsill, the glass crunching and the wood groaning under her weight. The bottom floor was burned and blackened, but the tables were still roughly in their original spots. Holes punctured the walls, and the ceiling was stained with soot.

A pile of debris against the right wall blocked her path, and the noise was filtering through from behind it.

She pulled out her six barrel Short-Range Laser and let loose. The dozens of short beams it fired out burned through the debris with ease, and enough was vaporized to allow her to fit through deftly.

A short hall stretched away before her, and the rear wall was patterned with laser holes.

She inched her way down the hall towards the cries, and once she reached the wall, she noticed another dining room to her right.

The entryway was blocked by another cave-in of material, and she cleared a path with her revolving laser once again.

As she stepped through, she heard a male voice yell, "Hey, watch it! Wait, who's there?"

The dining room was lit up by a shaft of faint sunlight that fell through a hole in the roof. Over in the far corner, Jewel spied two Blue and Gold Macaws huddled together.

"It's over Sarah. They found us, and now they're going to kill us! I love you, dear..."

Jewel raised her talon and brought it down with deadly force on the wooden counter before her, splintering and crushing it completely.

She walked over the wrecked counter, neared the two terrified macaws, and affected a curious expression.

They shrank back against the wall in fear, for she towered a full two feet over them.

"What makes you think I'm going to kill you? And who are 'they?'"

The macaws blinked and opened their eyes.

"You're so big... and so scary! You looked just like the other ones before, but you're bigger than they were." replied the male.

It took Jewel less than a second to deduce who the "other ones before" were.

"You must have seen one of my soldiers. I assure you, they weren't out to kill you, and neither am I. I am a bird that fights for good, not evil. Now, to get to the point, what are you two doing here?"

"My mate and I were eating in breakfast in the jungle, and then all of a sudden, bullets start flying everywhere and these bright beams go right by us. It was a little after sunrise. We were so scared that we flew away and came to the city. We landed outside this building to rest and we were going to hide in the stadium, but we saw a metal bird come around the corner. We found a way in through that hole up there and hid. We heard it walk by, and when we tried to leave out of that doorway, part of the ceiling fell in. Sarah, my mate, broke her wing, so we had no choice but to stay here and wait for someone to show up. Looks like you're that someone."

His explanation bounced around in Jewel's head, and she immediately resolved to help them.

"I see. Well, you are certainly wise for deciding to stay put. My soldiers wouldn't dare kill regular animals like you, but there are others out there that would. This city is not safe. I need to take you back to my home base."

"Is that the big shiny thing over in the bay?"

"Correct...uh... what's you name?"

"Oh, sorry! My name is Hector."

"I am Jewel. May I have a look at your mate?"

"Sure, but can you get rid of that laser thing on your shoulder first? It's freaking me out."

"Oh, of course."

The barrel retracted into the rectangular body of the weapon, and the whole assembly slid into a hole in her shoulder and disappeared.

"Thank you. I wasn't trying to be rude, it's just that your gun reminded me of the attack."

In that instant, something clicked in her brain.

"Did you hear or see anything when that attack happened?"

The male scratched his head with wing and replied, "I think so. There was a huge bird like you, and a long snake-looking thing. We didn't get to see much because we flew away, but I think the bird got hit... a lot."

Jewel couldn't believe it! These birds had witnessed the ambush on Blu and Nixus.

"This is such small world. It always amazes me..."

What... do you mean?" croaked the wounded female.

"That bird... was my mate. He was killed, but he didn't stay dead for long. It's a miracle that you two survived the ambush, even though you weren't the intended targets."

The macaws now looked utterly confused.

"How can he die and still be alive? That's impossible!"

"No Sarah, it's not. This is 2140. The world is different. Now, may I see your wing?"

"Sure. Just be careful. It really hurts!"

Jewel's talon reached out and cradled Sarah's form completely. She held the macaw in front of her and allowed her wing to droop. Jewel studied its outline, and the bone was angled backwards, toward the wall behind Sarah.

"That is a nasty break! I need to get you back to base as quickly as possible. Can you walk, Hector? Are you injured at all?"

"No, I'm fine. I just want to get out of here and get somewhere safe!"

"Well then, we mustn't delay."

Jewel placed Sarah on her massive back and instructed her to hold on with her good wing. The three macaws clambered from the maze of the ransacked building and back to the waiting form of Raxus.

"Woah! It's another snake looking thing!"

"Indeed, Hector. This is my companion, Raxus. My mate has one of his own, which is the one you described to me."

The comparatively tiny macaw strode up to Raxus and tapped his body with his foot. "Hey, you're made of metal! That's so... amazing!"

"It's actually tungsten carbide, Hector. Nearly impenetrable and very reliable."

"Now, who have you found, Commander?"

"These two macaws were almost casualties in the ambush of Blu and Nixus."

"What a small world it is."

"That's what I said. Now, we need to get them back home quickly. The female is injured and needs attention."

"I'll take the male and slither back on the ground. You just fly back, and don't wait for me. I will arrive eventually."

"Agreed, Raxus. You take care and keep Hector safe."

"As you wish, Commander."

The snake lowered his body to the pavement and said, "Hop on, Hector. Wrap your wings around my neck and hook your claws in between the gaps in my armor."

Hector did as he was told, and the snake declared, "This ride will not be pleasant, but do not let go for any reason."

Uh...okay, Raxus."

The snake curled around and lunged forward, churning his way down the street at deadly speed and rounding the corner. A continuous gouge in the pavement was a testament to the power of the snake.

"You do the same, Sarah. I will not travel at top speed, but I won't exactly be drifting either..."

Jewel exposed her engine and rose into the air with mighty flaps of her wings. She soared into the air and increased her speed to a brisk fifty miles an hour, aiming directly towards the looming dome that covered the bay to the south.

* * *

><p>Jewel made rapid time back to HQ, and she took the wounded Sarah to the lab where Blu had been repaired several hours earlier.<p>

The medics tended to her while she waited for Raxus and Hector to arrive. After a five minute wait, snake and macaw crawled into the room and sighed with relief.

Hector's feathers were in disarray from the journey, but he looked none the worse for wear.

Sarah's wing turned out to be in worse condition than Jewel had expected, and the medics were hesitant to operate on it. The chance of her ever flying again was slim, and this caused her mate great distress.

She would be able to live, no doubt, but her life would be substandard; she would be forever grounded. There was that option, and then there was one other.

Jewel was discussing the pros and cons of each with Hector and Sarah.

"Look, you can either be healed as possible and be released back into the jungle, or... you can become one of us. You cannot reside here if you are normal, but then again, you cannot reside in the perilous jungle in your compromised states. It is entirely u to you both, and I will not force you to choose your fate."

Hector and Sarah were gripped with dread and confusion. The first option was quite clear, but the second had left them completely in the dark.

"How exactly... do _we _become like _you_?"

Jewel prepared herself for the shock that would undoubtedly erupt from the two macaws before her.

"It's quite simple, really. We scan your brains, turn your thoughts, personalities and memories into raw digital data, and then program that into a computerized brain. We then implant that brain, a Scion, into a robotic body called a Shell. That is how you both will be changed from animal to Machine."

A bewildered silence ensued, but Sarah eventually broke it.

"Is it painless? How long does it take?"

"It only takes a few hours. The thing is, I will have to... kill you. The process can only be done on dormant brains. That is the grim reality. I have certain business matters to attend to, so you don't have very long to choose. But you must consider this matter most heavily. You are giving up many indulgences and necessities of life for immortality. You will no longer be able to have children, for one thing. You can still share intimate experiences, but anything beyond that is impossible."

The macaws looked on the verge of tears, and they hung their heads. After a five minute wait, they looked into Jewel's glowing eyes with conviction.

"I... I'll do it." declared Hector.

"If my mate does it... then so will I."

At that moment, a Blue-throated Macaw strode up to Jewel.

"Yes, Matthias?"

"We haven't enough silicon for one Scion right now, let alone two, Commander."

"I see your point. I have a solution, if the two macaws are willing to go through with it."

They nodded resolutely, and Jewel blinked several times.

"Raxus, go to my quarters and bring one of my Scions back here."

The snake sped off and returned within the minute, the metal sphere clutched in his jaws.

He handed it to Jewel and asked, "Are you going to give them one of your Scions?"

"Yes, I am. These birds deserve it, for they have made a most difficult choice."

Jewel handed it to Matthias and said, "Harvest this Scion for the silicon at once, and I will dispatch these two macaws as cleanly as possible..."

The Blue-throated Macaw took Jewel's Scion into another adjoining room.

"Why are you doing this, Jewel?"

"Because sacrifices must be made, Sarah. My Scions are precious, but not as precious as the lives of two macaws willing to die for the chance to fight alongside me. It is a most noble sacrifice, and one I will gladly undertake. Now, are you ready to begin?"

The macaws swallowed heavily and began to cry.

"Thank you, Jewel. We accept your sacrifice, and we hope to prove ourselves to you one day."

"That day will come very soon, I assure you. Now, I duly apologize for any discomfort you may feel..."

Jewel grabbed Hector with her right foot and held him down against the nearby table.

"I hope to see you and your mate in a few days, once you have grown accustomed to your new lives as Machines."

So do I, Jewel..."

Proud tears drained from his eyes, and with a quick turn of her foot, Jewel cleanly snapped his neck.

"As soon as his Scion is ready, begin the Shifting process immediately."

His body was dragged from the table and into a separate room, the same room where Jewel's Scion had been taken.

He may have been out of sight, but he was far from out of mind.

Jewel turned around and grabbed Sarah, and after the tearful macaw had also met her end and her body removed, Jewel departed from the room and returned to her quarters.

Jewel had slaughtered hundreds of enemy individuals over her lifetime as a Machine, but having to kill innocent souls weighed heavily upon her. Raxus was there to console her and convince her that the macaws had graciously offered to join the army.

It took a great deal of effort on his part, but Jewel eventually steeled her will and morphed her mood from downcast to cheerful.

Even though she was not subject to the chains of normal life and did not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, Jewel tried to gain as much shut-eye as possible by allowing her Core to be removed.

Judging by the clock on the wall, it was 2145 hours, and she was waiting for Blu to show up so that she could rest and recuperate.

Raxus had reminded her about the scouting party reform, but she decided that she would handle that the coming sunrise. She just wanted to be next to her mate and relish in his presence.

At 2200 hours, Blu finally entered the room, and he appeared just as tired and beat-up as she, if such a thing was possible.

Raxus slid over to make room for Blu, and the massive macaw stopped just in front of his mate.

"Its been... quite a long day, hasn't it honey?"

"I couldn't agree more, Blu. You got killed, and I myself had to kill two macaws."

Blu affected a curious gaze, his interest piqued.

"Why did you have to kill two macaws? When?"

"Just a while ago. It's a long story, and I'll fill you in on it tomorrow. I think it's time for a well needed nap."

Blu sidled up on her right side and pulled her close with his wing.

"Of course, Jewel. I won't press you anymore today. As for me, I spent the rest of the day with the kids, and not a single enemy was spotted. I think the Traitors learned a good lesson today. I too am ready for a decent nap. But first, I need to give you one of these..."

Blu leaned into Jewel and planted a kiss on her beak.

Although they were essentially cyborgs, their Scions allowed them to feel emotions and sensory stimulation just like a standard animal.

Both of their eyes closed from the rush of sensation, and the kiss continued. Raxus slithered a few feet away and fixed his gaze on the door to give the two macaws some privacy.

True, one of the tantalizing experiences they had to give up was copulation, and they could no longer produce offspring. To them, it did not matter. They could still be intimate with each other, and that was still exciting in its own right. In addition, they were basically immortal, as were their six children, and they had all the love they would ever need.

After a straight minute of kissing, Blu and Jewel parted and locked their glowing, ocean blue eyes on each other.

"Damn, that was amazing, Blu. You do know that I love you beyond measure, right?"

"Of course I do, my mechanized temptress. I feel exactly the same way..."

The entry doors slid open and Nixus crawled to a stop in front of the two Spix's Macaws.

"Greetings, Commanders. Are you ready to have your Cores extracted for the night?"

"I do believe you read our minds, friend." stated Blu. "We are more than ready to endure a peaceful night's rest. You have our full authority over the soldiers, Nixus. And so do you, Raxus. Keep this place running smoothly, understood?"

"Yes, Commander." replied the two snakes in unison.

"Oh, one more thing, you two. See to it that the scouting parties are to be doubled in size, effective as of now. Send out as many parties tonight as you feel necessary."

"As you wish, Commander."

"Now, could you please extract our Cores?"

The two snakes reared up and grasped the hatches between Blu and Jewel's foreheads with their jaws. With a gentle tug, the Cores slid out, filling the room with an electric blue glare.

"Good night, you two." said Jewel.

"Likewise, Commanders." replied Raxus.

The snakes clutched the Cores nimbly and slid them from their respective hatches in the manner of extracting a battery. The hatches drew shut automatically, and the once-vibrant eyes of Blu and Jewel faded to black.

Their bodies grew still, frozen in the restful pose they had assumed before their Cores were removed.

The serpents placed the fluorescent cylinders on the ground near their owner's talons and slithered towards the exit.

A brief curtain of light entered the room, and once the tails of the snakes slipped away, that curtain of light was extinguished.

The home of Blu and Jewel – if one could call it that – was quite lonely. On the days where they simply needed to relax and enjoy each other's company, and had no indication of any impending attacks by the Traitors, this is where they spent their time.

Still, their children were much too busy down below, and hardly ever dropped by on those solace-filled days.

Even on the rare occasions that they weren't, and the base was given a day off, they knew better than to interfere. Their parents had the weight of the world on their shoulders, and they needed some time alone to escape from the tremendous pressure that they had to endure.

The twin Cores flickered like futuristic night-lights, and the deathly quiet space had the feel of a nursery: charming, innocent, and occupied by carefree souls.

This was Blu and Jewel's own little universe - and even though they had no beating hearts - it was a universe filled with hope, strength, and most important of all... love.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: You can Google Image search "Cyborg Jewel" and see where part of my inspiration came from. Granted, I changed the details of the pictures, but for obvious reasons.**

**I put this down here to avoid spoiling the _entire _chapter. That would not be very proper conduct, now would it?**

**If you don't mind, would you please review? This is my _last story _for Rio, and I want to hear some parting thoughts...**

* * *

><p><strong>Description Origin: "We have war when at least one of the parties to a conflict wants something more than it wants peace."-Jeane J. Kirkpatrick<strong>

**Motto Origin: "Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival."- Winston Curchill.**


	2. Raise The Stakes

**Chapter 2: Raise The Stakes**

A key facet of the functionality of any army is a central headquarters: a site where the leaders of that army discuss war tactics, gather and process intelligence, and plan their next assaults against the enemy.

The Traitors – a small band of Creators that decided to turn to the side of evil - and their Machines knew where the Precursors had built theirs: Rio de Janeiro.

The Traitors penultimate base was stationed in a spacious city in the Texas Panhandle. The city once known as Amarillo, Texas had been converted from a vibrant artery of commerce in the north of the state to a place where the truest evil resided.

The Traitors had to unite _somewhere _following their defeat in Rio in 2090 at the hands of the Precursors, and what better place to do just that than a meager city of just over 700,000 people? The battered and broken remnants of the Machines' army forced every living soul out the city, and those who opposed were slaughtered.

The greatly reduced army set about converting the city into a powerful military base, and several locations in Amarillo proved to be of great value for them.

A large building called Westgate Mall – a sprawling artifact with many thousands of square feet of space and dozens of stores – became the factory where more Machines were created and repaired, and also as a research and development area.

The downtown area bore a cluster of towering skyscrapers, and the largest – as evidenced by the shattered and time worn sign near the top of the facade – was the Chase Tower. The multi-story structure was formerly the city's premier banking center, but the Traitors had remodeled the interior for their own diabolical needs.

It became the place where the Traitors had installed their radar equipment and their meeting rooms, and the place where they coordinated their war efforts and processed all the data they received.

The re-sculpturing of the city took fifteen grueling years, for the Great Distortion in 2100 halted their progress ten years into the construction. Amarillo was finally converted into a fully operational offensive and defensive expanse by 2105, and by that time, the army of evil Machines had risen to well over five thousand members.

With their success, the human leaders of the army handed over the reigns to their mechanized equals – a pair of sadistic Lear's Macaws – and went into hiding.

They were just as fearsome and imposing as the Precursors, since the human Traitors had spent a great many years perfecting them using the knowledge they had stolen from the Creators.

They were deemed to be an even match with the Precursors, and they were the only ones capable of taking them down; no other entity could hope to survive in full-on combat with those two Spix's Macaws.

The two Lear's Macaws possessed twisted Scions inside their tungsten carbide bodies; mechanized evil of the truest form. They ruled their subordinates with iron claws, nothing like the controlled strictness that the Precursors utilized.

They tolerated zero dissent or disrespect: their punishments were severe for first offenders, and downright diabolical for the soldiers that dared to wrong them twice.

They believed this harsh treatment tempered their soldiers and allowed them to perform better in combat. The back-and-forth war between them and the Precursors had been going on for decades, and if they were to see its end, their soldiers needed to be lethal and cunning.

The two Spix's Macaws - their mortal enemies and the greatest afflictions to their goal of world supremacy - had only one thing they desired: the duplication method thatwould allow them to create as many Scions as they wanted, without fear of degrading the copies.

The Lear's Macaws would do everything in their power to get that secret, and the only way to accomplish that was to capture one of the Precursors.

That idea arose in 2130 and had been pondered many times since then, but getting past all of the defenses in Rio de Janeiro and _still_ managing to snag one of the Spix's Macaws was a mountainous order. In short, it had never been attempted, for the casualties would have been many.

It was now the year 2140, and the macaws felt that the stakes needed to be raised... drastically.

The Lear's Macaws were discussing a plan to do just that in the highest floor of the Chase Tower, along with one of their most trusted compatriots.

As the crimson Sun crested over the southern horizon and drilled its light into the Tower, signaling the beginning of a new day, their devilish computerized brains felt a spark of grim confidence. Today was the day that – with proper planning and a shred of luck – some of their elite soldiers would capture one of the Precursors.

Once that goal was accomplished, the war would swiftly be brought to an end.

"So tell me, Daniel, how do you suggest we conduct this plan, a plan which has remained dormant in our minds for so long?"

The Military Macaw known as Daniel stood up straighter and stared back at the macaw sitting across the steel table from him.

"It comes in three operations, Hannibal, Sir. The first entails sending a fairly large force, in two waves, to Rio de Janeiro and stationing itself in the jungle. You and Lizzie will land first and draw the enemy out of their base with your presence. If the Precursors are drawn out as well, then our chance of success is near guaranteed.

You and your mate will keep the enemy talking, and stall them long enough for the rear wave to show up. Once they do, we will trap them, along with any soldiers they have, and leave them with no means of retreat.

You and Lizzie will demand that one of the Precursors be handed over in exchange for their release. Once the victim is led away, the trapped soldiers will be slaughtered without hesitation.

If we can accomplish that, our enemies will not be able to react fast enough and come in pursuit of us. If we can make it out of Rio and leave Brazil relatively undetected, it will be too late for our enemies.

We will have in our possession the duplication secret, and the Precursors' army will meet a swift end. The only sticking point is whether or not the Precursors are threatened enough to investigate. We must make _absolutely _sure that they fall into our trap. That is all, Sir."

Hannibal glared at Daniel fiendishly, a delightfully evil glint his eyes. Lizzie, Hannibal's mate, seemed wholeheartedly intrigued by this cunning plan.

"A very devious strategy, Daniel! I feel it may be the one we've been looking for. What do you think, dear?"

"I agree, Lizzie. This just may be what we need to finally end the Creators and their oh-so-righteous army of bastards!"

Hannibal stood up and walked around the table, placing himself a short distance away from Daniel.

"Listen here, Daniel. Lizzie and I will evaluate the logistics of your proposal in private. It is now... 0715 hours. Return at 0815 hours to hear our decision. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir. Perfectly clear, Sir."

"Good. Now begone! Surely there is some other matter in this building that requires your attention. Go tend to it."

"Right away, Sir! I will return at the scheduled time..."

Daniel whirled around and entered the main elevator of the tower, disappearing behind the gleaming doors as they slid shut.

Lizzie came up on Hannibal's right side and said, "I admire his plan, my love. I do think it will work. We just need to address the possible problems and inconsistencies it comprises before implementing it."

"That we do, Lizzie. Well, let's begin, shall we?"

Buried in the wash of light from the rising sun, Daniel's plan was dissected in every possible way by Lizzie and Hannibal, every detail scrutinized.

The Precursors were vastly intelligent, and the plan needed to be near perfect for them not to realize the disaster they were leading themselves into.

Nonetheless, Daniel was a very gifted thinker, and that's why he was second in command to only Hannibal and Lizzie. He took orders obediently and carried them out obediently, and his two superiors knew it was mostly out of fear rather than out of loyalty.

They took secret pleasure in bending others to their will using the power of fear. They needed to be in control, and making sure that the lesser soldiers bowed in their presence assured them that they _were _in control.

Daniel's plan was more or less feasible, and only a few details needed to be clarified. Hannibal and his mate decided that the ambush would be carried out tonight, under the cloak of darkness, so that the Precursors had as little clue as to what was going on as possible.

The two Lear's Macaws were just wrapping up their discussion when Daniel returned, right on time, to his superiors.

Daniel stepped from the elevator and came face-to-face with his leaders.

"What have you decided upon?"

"Your plan was very thorough, Daniel. We will assemble the strike team and carry out the mission tonight. Congratulations on a job well done!"

Hannibal gave the Military Macaw a powerful slap on the back with his wing. A loud clang resounded, but Daniel remained unaffected.

"Would you like to come along and join the raid? It is your idea, after all."

"Yes Lizzie, Ma'am."

"Good." She flashed the macaw a grateful smile before meeting her mate's gaze. "Should we announce the raid right now, or should we wait for a few more hours?"

"We will wait, Lizzie. We still have to assemble the strike team, and that takes time. Plus, the journey will consume even more time, and we will have to plan our departure so that it is night in Rio by the time we arrive."

"Very well, then. Is there anything we can do until then to pass the time?"

"Yes there is, my love. Daniel, how is construction coming along on the assault cyborg?"

"It was sixty percent complete last week, Sir. It is bound to have progressed since then. Why do you ask?"

"I would like to pay a visit to it. In the off chance that your plan fails, I need to know how soon the cyborg will be completed."

"Why is that, Hannibal?"

"You see, in the off chance that Daniel's plan fails, I need to know when the cyborg will be able to serve as backup."

It took Daniel only a few seconds to decipher the veiled meaning Hannibal's words.

"Do you mean that the Machine will be sent to Rio?"

"Exactly, Daniel. If our tactic fails tonight, as soon as the Machine is finished, it will be sent to the Precursors' base to finish what we started!"

Hannibal laughed maniacally as he boarded the elevator with his mate and Daniel, his Scion churning with pleasure as he imagined the sight of the completed cyborg tearing through his enemies and capturing one of their leaders with ease...

They descended quickly down the interior of the tower and exited the building, emerging out from under the supporting arches of the structure and ending up on the warm pavement.

The downtown area had favored much better than the outlying areas in the campaign that drove the citizens of Amarillo away from their city. The myriad of buildings stood tall and proud, albeit shining strangely in the reddish light of the Sun above.

The factory where the deadly weapon was housed for construction lay a few miles to the west, hence its former name of Westgate Mall.

Being as the Traitors had stolen much of the Creators' work when they defected, the technical design of their Machines was nearly identical to the latter's Machines.

The three birds drew out their turbofan engines and rose into flight, steadily increasing their velocity to a comfy eighty miles an hour. They sped between the buildings with ease and merged into open sky after but a minute of flight. As they sped off towards the west, their brains were brimming with excitement at what they would find hiden deep in the factory...

They sliced through the air with little effort, for their feather-laden bodies gave them all the aerodynamic properties of a normal bird. They traveled the few miles to their destination in a few short minutes, and as they came in for landing, they slowed themselves to a stop by digging into the pavement with their greatly lengthened talons.

"Don't you just love the feel of being able to spread your wings and fly as fast as you wish, my dear?"

"I do, Hannibal! Our new lives sure do have their perks."

She and Hannibal exchanged proud smiles.

"Well, enough talking for now. We need to be on our way. I am eager to see how near to completion our new... toy is!"

Hannibal strode off toward the nearby entrance doors at a brisk pace, and the two remaining macaws rushed to catch up. A steel overhang jutted from the brickwork a few feet above their heads, casting a cool shadow over the doorway.

A pair of Blue and Gold Macaws stood on either side of the steel doors, and they saluted Hannibal and Lizzie immediately.

"Good day, Sir. Good day, Ma'am." greeted the macaw on the right.

"Thank you, Saul. Could you let us in?"

"Right away, Ma'am."

He lifted a hidden flap in the wall behind him and pulled a lever down. A sound akin to steam being released was emitted, and the pair of steel doors parted to allow them in.

"Enjoy your stay Sir, Ma'am."

The trio of birds walked past the two guards and entered a narrow hallway, forcing them to walk in single file down the dimly-lit path. An automatic door slid open at the end of the hall, and they stepped into the interior of the building.

Even though the mall had been converted and remodeled extensively, the inner space was not dark by any means. A large portion of the ceiling above still retained the glass windows that let in copious amounts of natural sunlight.

The deep red glow flickered and danced about the large open space that surrounded them, and they felt as if they had walked into a harmless fireplace.

However, that was not the only source of illumination present.

The factory branched off on different directions, and all along the walls of those branches were a myriad of rooms that poured out varying colors of light. In some places the light was steady, in others erratic.

"Follow me, and I will lead you to the assembly room of the cyborg."

"Agreed, Daniel. Just make it quick!" declared Lizzie.

"Yes Ma'am..."

Daniel walked briskly down the east branch, weaving his way around the soldiers that blocked his path as they went from room to room.

All sorts of wires stretched across the floor haphazardly, following dozens of mysterious paths as they went.

The odd multi-hued glow from the rooms lining the walls made them feel like they were trapped in an advanced technological rave.

In addition, it was far from quiet; talon-clicks, electric buzzing, and the drone of chatter was constant.

The trio of Machines quickened their pace until arriving at a dead-end.

"What the hell? Is this a trick, Daniel? I'll have your head if it is."

"In no way is this a trick, Sir."

His steady voice belied the fear that gripped his senses; Hannibal was always quick to jump to conclusions, and he had never gotten used to it.

"Just behind this door is the assembly room. You haven't been here for three months, Sir. It seems you've forgotten the layout of this building."

"I'll believe it when I see it. Come on, what's taking so long?"

Daniel drew up to the left side of the doorway and used the deep red shine from his eyes to reveal a hidden panel. He flipped the panel up with his talon and punched in the security code, a thirty digit monster.

The single slab of metal rose from the ground and hid inside a groove in the wall. A torrent of soothing neon-red light followed in its wake dramatically, and the room before them was equal in size to a cavern.

"Come, so that you can inspect the Machine and see its progress..."

As they ambled deeper into the sea of light, they discovered it was streaming from regularly-spaced cylinders suspended from the domed ceiling by tiny cables, which were actually Cores.

On both sides of the room, searing metal glints caught their eyes regularly, and the Lear's Macaws deemed it to be issuing from the pieces of the "toy" they had come here to see.

The engineers that were milling about the room stopped to give a salute to their leaders before continuing on with their tasks.

Daniel took them halfway into the spacious room and whirled around after stopping.

"The legs are on the that side of the room," stated Daniel as he pointed with his left wing, "and the head is on that side..." concluded the macaw as he pointed with his right.

"I want to see the legs first."

"Very well, Sir. I assure you, they are in most exquisite condition."

They walked towards the left wall of the space and came upon a long rack shrouded with black cloth.

Hannibal walked up behind a Scarlet Macaw and grabbed him around the neck with his massive right foot. He threw him towards the rack, and the macaw skidded across the floor alongside it.

"Remove that material at once!"

The stunned macaw stood up and replied, "Y-yes... Sir."

He pinched his left foot around the edge of the sheet and dragged it off gently but quickly. As the strong red light fell upon the once-hidden objects, Hannibal's robotic eyes took in what they saw with awe.

Long rods of metal lay side-by-side one another, and they bore round knobs at regular intervals along their length.

Hannibal walked over to the front of the rack, where the somewhat wider ends of the rods lay and said, "Amazing! How long are these legs?"

"Eighteen feet, Sir." replied the Scarlet Macaw.

He walked down the right side of the rack and arrived at the other end of the legs... the business end. The tips of the legs were not blunt; each one culminated in a wickedly-sharp point like a spear. Hannibal moved his head back and forth just to catch the glints of light that bounced from the polished metal.

_Perfect for impaling those fool enemies of ours! Oh how they will feel when their bodies are pierced by this eighteen foot needle of death!_

Lizzie made her way over to her mate and pulled him close with one wing.

"Aren't they just so sleek... and deadly?"

"Just what we need to strike dread into our enemies, dear. The quality is impeccable, I must say. Well done!"

"Thank you, Sir!" intoned the Scarlet Macaw.

"You've had your praise, so get back to work!"

The macaw scurried off and resumed working alongside next to his partner a few feet away from the rack.

Daniel carefully replaced the heavy cloth sheet, and after he was done, he spied his leaders on the other side of the room, gawking at the other half of the incomplete war machine.

The two Lear's Macaws stood before a massive head modeled in the shape of a spider, a tarantula more specifically. Two beady eyes glared back at them from just behind another fearsome feature: two grisly fangs.

The fangs were each four feet in length and bore pronounced curves. Just like the legs, their tips were honed to near-perfect sharpness.

A group of welders were behind the head a few feet away, fabricating the abdomen of the tarantula with blinding torches. The crackling sound of metal being fused was constant, and showers of sparks blasted into the air like fireworks in miniature.

A geyser of pride surged within Hannibal and Lizzie, for this Machine had been conceived by _them_, and now here it was in physical form. They were the ones responsible for dreaming up this feat of engineering, and they shuddered in anticipation at the coming siege it would lay upon their enemies.

Lizzie walked around the right side of the head and tapped one of the welders on his shoulder, causing him to shut off his torch.

"How near is this contraption to completion?"

"I would say its at eighty percent completion. Once we finish the abdomen and attach the legs, all of the outside work is complete. After that, we will install the Scion and weapons, wire everything together, and then implant the Core. We'll be conducting a test run then."

"Wonderful! Can you have this finished within five days?"

An incredulous wave of emotion soaked his face.

"Only five days! We planned to have it finished in a week. Five days is pushing it, Ma'am."

"That's too long."

"Why so soon, Ma'am?"

"You do not need to know my reasoning! Five days, or I will tear your Scion from your chest and crush it with my bare talons, along with anyone else who is involved. Am I clear?"

"Yes Ma'am. Five days. I understand."

"Perfect! Now get back to work!"

The macaw hurriedly flicked his torch back on and resumed welding with increased fervor.

"Isn't just wonderful?" asked Hannibal as he approached his mate.

"Indeed, dear."

"Oh the terror in our enemies' eyes when they come face to face with this... monstrosity! I doubt they will be in any mood to come after us and try to retrieve what was stolen from them."

"What do you mean by that?"

"After we have one of the Precursors in our talons, and as soon as our Machine is up and running, we will send it to Rio at once! Any efforts they may attempt to come after us will most certainly in vain. This war is almost over. I can feel it in my Scion! Ah ha ha..."

Being as there wasn't much else to survey in the assembly room – or any other place in the compound, for that matter – the three macaws trudged back through the factory of evil and turned their sights toward home.

The landscape rushed on by beneath them, and in mere minutes they were back inside the Chase Tower, on the topmost floor. The Sun had ascended much higher in the sky by the time they returned, and it was now 1235 hours.

They still had a good eight hours to kill, so after a brief discussion regarding the release of the Machine in five days, they left their private room and traveled up and down the building.

They stopped at as many of the floors that needed their attention, or when they felt the need to inspect the work being done on those floors.

On the 29th floor, a Blue-throated Macaw had been discovered napping in a corner. Hannibal and Lizzie grew furious, and the female Lear's Macaw decided to wake him by tearing his wings from their sockets. The agonized macaw was thrown through the glass window and left to die from his impact with the ground.

The stunned birds in the room had little time to stay that way. After a harsh announcement about slacking off and its immediate consequences, the room quickly returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.

Though it pained them to witness the loss of one of their friends, it was a far more terrifying prospect to suffer the wrath of their leaders, and so they quickly forgot about it.

That is how things were ran in this particular army. Make a mistake, and you paid for it with your life. It was that simple.

Things were very hectic on this particular day, and Hannibal and Lizzie spent a great deal of time jumping between the myriad of floors and dealing with any problems and concerns their subordinates had.

It was past 2000 hours by the time they gained respite, and they immediately set about assembling the strike team for tonight's raid. They made one last run throughout the tower and hand picked as many fitting soldiers as they could.

They waited under the supporting structure that held the tower up and waited for the chosen birds to show up. The tower only had so many elevators, and thus it took several minutes for all of the birds to arrive.

The team consisted of fifty soldiers total; a large enough number to pose a noticeable threat to their enemies and be easily picked up on the Precursors' radar.

The almost 5600 mile journey would have taken nearly half a day – if they had to fly, that is. No, this was 2140, and long-distance travel had long-since been a time-consuming ordeal. They used a pair of devices called "Jumpers" to allow them to cross vast distances relatively quickly.

The "Jumpers" were stationed in the basement of Chase Tower, and they had been used several times over the course of the war. One of the devices was fixed, and the other was mobile.

The latter of those two was on its way as Hannibal began his short briefing of the soldiers.

"I have gathered you all here to announce a plan to lure one of the Precursors into our clutches. The operation is remarkably simple, but there is no room for error.

Here's what Lizzie and I have decided. She and I will Jump first and land at a point several miles outside of Rio and remain completely still. We will then fly the rest of the way in the direction of their headquarters and attract the attention of our enemies.

This is where you need to pay utmost attention. The rest of you will then Jump to the exact same spot as us and fly immediately to our location. We will stall the Precursors until you arrive, and once you do, surround the site completely and allow them no means of escape.

Bring out all your weapons and make your might known in full. Lizzie and I will then offer the Precursors a deal: hand one of them over, or be slaughtered. We will tell them that we have brought an army strong enough to lay siege to their base, which is a lie that they will most surely believe.

Once we have one of our targets safely in our possession, open fire on the remaining fools. Leave no survivors. We will then jump back to this town and celebrate our victory!"

A hearty tsunami of applause and whistling greeted the three macaws. They beamed proudly and allowed the cheering to persist for several moments. Lizzie then called for them to be quiet so that any questions they had could be answered.

"You there, state your name and then your question." declared Lizzie as she pointed at a Chestnut-fronted Macaw.

"My name is Logan, Ma'am, and my question is this: what if our plan fails? What then?"

"A wise concern, Logan. In the off chance that happens, we will retreat immediately. Following that failure, we will unleash our secret weapon, a mechanized tarantula. We will have it Jumped to Rio and have it capture one or both of the Precursors with unparalleled force."

"Thank you, Ma'am."

"I have a question."

"What is it, soldier?" questioned Hannibal.

"My name is Alexander, and what do you plan to do with our hostage?"

"Ah, that is quite simple, Alexander. We will have him or her subdued and kept prisoner in our private room. We will use any and all means possible to get our victim to divulge the duplication secret. Once we have acquired that, Lizzie and I will gladly dispose of that pathetic Machine with our bare talons!"

Another burst of commendation resounded, and Hannibal and Lizzie swelled from the fawning they were receiving.

Daniel felt proud, for it was his plan that had caused the riot, but his leaders did not acknowledge him in any way. He felt a flash of anger and confusion ignite within him.

_Why didn't they give me the proper respect and praise? Do I really mean that little to them? Surely not! I am their most trusted helper. Surely not..._

His disconcerted thoughts were cut short by the female's prideful query.

"Are there any more questions?"

A tense silence resounded, and that very silence provided the answer.

"All right then! Let's take the first steps onto the path of victory!"

The Jumper had been placed out in the street during the briefing, and the two Lear's Macaws approached it without delay. Two Hyacinth Macaws stood next to it and saluted their leaders.

"What is your destination, Sir, Ma'am?"

"Five miles north of Rio de Janeiro." replied Hannibal.

The pair of macaws nodded and punched in the target coordinates into the Jumper's on-board computer. A metal disk studded with a series of blades rose from the top of the machine, attached to a thin cylindrical shaft.

"All set, Sir, Ma'am. We will head to the basement and activate the main Jumper. You will be transported shortly..."

The macaws scurried off and vanished into the tower.

"You will Jump no later than _ten minutes _after us. Am I clear? This entire mission depends on that delay!"

The throng of macaws – which had moved out into the street and paused a few feet away – all nodded simultaneously.

"Good. We will see you all again shortly."

Daniel edged closer to them and asked, "Aren't I going with you? You said I could come-"

"I've changed my mind, Daniel. You will remain here and watch over your fellow warriors."

Daniel grew flustered and disheartened.

"But... but... Hannibal! Why do I have to stay behind and perform such a menial task?"

"Because I said so!"

He shot his foot out and gripped Daniel's neck like a vice, lifting him off the ground with ease.

"Never call me Hannibal again! You will refer to me as Sir."

He threw Daniel across the street and over the heads of the other stunned soldiers. He slammed into one of the brick arches that supported the tower, falling to the ground in a shower of dust and rubble.

"That is settled then. Never contradict me again, you fool!"

As Daniel struggled to get up from the blow, the five foot high contraption began to buzz, and the propeller-like disk on top revolved faster and faster. Beams of odd lightning arced from the propeller and contacted the two macaws, who disappeared in a flash of light.

_That is it. They have gone too far! I do not deserve this treatment. Status is not an excuse! Curse you, Hannibal and Lizzie! I am no longer in your service, and I will do all in my power to stop your fiendish plan to win this war..._

Right then and there, he swore to thwart his leaders' evil plans and give the Precursors a chance to wipe them out. While they were gone, he would formulate a hidden plan of his own, and he knew it would involve the victim they brought back...

* * *

><p>A rift of electricity crackled through the air, and two macaws plus the Jumper were dropped gently onto the damp jungle ground.<p>

They dusted their cloak of feathers clean and assessed their surroundings. The last slivers of sunlight had apparently left the horizon, for the cloudless sky above was a sensuous purple-black, studded with thousands of stars.

The still form of the jumper device lay just behind them, with the blade-studded disk hidden away.

"Well, it seems we have arrived, my dear."

"And at a most advantageous time of day!"

"Come, Lizzie, our destination is but a short flight away."

The whine of their mini turbofans broke the silence, and after rising a few feet into the air, they jetted off towards the south, a deadly joy pooling inside them. They skimmed the canopy at a brisk one hundred miles per hour, and thus their flight lasted just over three minutes.

They stowed their turbofans back inside their Shells and flared their wings to reduce their velocity. They skidded to a stop inside a small grove of berry bushes, at which point they proceeded to walk around and make sure their radar echoes were as clear as possible.

After a minute of prancing around, they searched for a clearing in which they could wait for their enemies to greet them. They found one such clearing a short walk to the south, and they stood conspicuously a few paces away from the center.

"They should be storming in to meet us in a few moments, dear."

"Indeed, Lizzie! This space is perfect for the ambush. It's as if it was designed for us..."

The soft ambiance of the jungle filled their senses, comprised of frogs croaking, macaws screeching, and monkeys cackling. Three minutes had gone by, and not one of the enemy birds had showed up.

"I'm getting worried, Lizzie. If we can't stall them long enough, they will call for backup, and our goal will be shattered..."

She placed a morbidly sweet wing on his back.

"Be patient, my dear. They'll come soon enough."

After another sixty seconds of unnerving waiting, they heard a plaintive rustle bounce across the clearing. Its source lay across the open space, and they spied a pair of tiny macaws stepping out of the undergrowth.

The night sky was moonless, and so the two macaws knew not who the unknowns were.

The macaws faced away and yelled, "Hey, we found two birds out here! The radar was right!"

More macaws melted from the jungle ahead, but none of them were comparable in size to the Precursors.

"Who are you?" asked one of the macaws from across the way.

"I am Hannibal, and this is my mate, Lizzie. We come in peace..."

Some of the macaws dashed back into the jungle, and when they returned, two massive Machines accompanied them.

_Perfect! So they did come after all... _mused Lizzie with satisfaction.

Even though the smaller macaws could not recognize them, the large ones did, and they immediately grew hostile. They marched up to the Lear's Macaws and stopped just one foot away.

Their weapons were drawn, but Hannibal and his mate did not react negatively.

"What the hell are you two doing here?"

"Patience, Jewel! We have come alone, for we need to talk to you and your mate."

"Really? You've got to be joking! Why would two abominations such as you come to just 'talk?' You're usually too busy scheming and plotting back in Amarillo, not to mention killing your _own _soldiers. What business could you possibly have with us?"

Hannibal was desperate to silence the callous female, but since he was outnumbered, he managed to control himself.

"Is this how you treat your guests, Jewel? It does not become you at all. I presumed you and Blu were noble and respectful leaders. Perhaps I am mistaken..."

Blu and Jewel's soldiers had formed themselves into a ring around the suspicious party, and after seeing that their leaders' arms were deployed, they followed suit.

"Just get to the point, assholes!" declared Blu forcefully.

"Fine. My mate and I have now understood the futility of this war, and we wish to discuss a truce. I am sure you and Jewel have had the same thoughts. Why else would we come alone and keep our arms hidden when you so openly brandished yours?"

Lizzie's reply unsettled the macaws and caused them to blink in consideration.

Lizzie and Hannibal were telling the utter truth. Only two unknowns had shown up on the radar, and here they were.

As foul and villainous as they were, Blu and Jewel were hard-pressed to believe that they had come to organize a conflict. There was simply no indication of that at the moment.

"Hmmm. Well then, let's hear the details of your so-called 'truce.'" said Blu curiously.

"You see, neither of us has made any progress against the other, and so we should resolve to end this war peacefully, rather than with violence.

Perhaps the Traitors were deluded by power, and that is why they defected. I believe that we could get them to dissolve those notions of power and be subdued. If you can do the same with the Creators, a common peace will ensue. Isn't that what you've been seeking all along?"

"I see. You have certainly done your homework, Hannibal. But I am still skeptical about all of this. Why so sudden? Is there something you're not telling us?"

He paused for several moments, as if contemplating his reply.

"Do you really want the answer?"

"Of course."

"Well then, here it is, Jewel. This war has gone on for too long, and Lizzie and I want to see it end very soon. And yes, there is something we are not telling you. We do want the war to end, yes, but we have made sure that we will be the ones who will live to see that happen. Come, Traitors! Surround them and draw your weapons!"

As his command curled out into the sky, the entire border of the clearing shook as if it was alive.

A vast ring of birds stepped from the shadows, arranging themselves in a second ring around the soldiers. Blu and Jewel quickly realized what had happened, and they suddenly grew furious.

"You bitch!"

"No, I think _you _deserve that title, Jewel. I thought you and your mate were the two smartest beings on this planet. It turns out that you are nothing but a pair of impetuous fools!"

Jewel lunged at Hannibal, but he dodged the attack and revealed his own weapons.

"I wouldn't attempt that, Jewel. My soldiers outnumber yours two to one. We could have you all slaughtered with merely a command. Now, here's the _real_ truce I intend to offer you: Either you or Blu hand yourselves over to us, or we dispose of you and move on to plunder your home base. This is but a small sample of the force we have brought along, and I can call them in within a minute. Make your choice."

Blu heard his subordinates say, "What do we do, Commander?" and "I'll take down a few of these bastards before I die! Just give me the order." or "Can we fight our way out?"

Blu knew he was at a loss. He had been led into the most deadly of traps, and if that wasn't terrible enough, his two mortal enemies had orchestrated it.

His soldiers continued to plead and shout bravely, but he would not allow them to risk their lives in a pointless battle.

"Quiet, all of you! No one will do anything until Jewel or I says so!"

He would have no choice to comply, and he cast a frantic glance at Jewel. Beneath the mask of bewilderment on her gorgeous face, he noticed a bottomless ocean of dread and loss.

"Fine, Hannibal. You win. I will not allow my soldiers to be slaughtered due to my folly. If you must, take me away and leave them unharmed."

Jewel took a defeated step towards her enemy, but an outstretched wing blocked her path.

"What the? Blu?" He stepped in front of her and declared, "No Jewel, you stay. I'll go with them."

"But Blu!"

"Don't argue with me, Jewel. I love you too much to see you sacrifice yourself like this..."

If she had the ability to cry, the ground would have been soaked with her tears.

"This is goodbye, Jewel. I am so sorry, but I think we've lost the war. We may not ever see each other again. I love you..."

Blu leaned in and gave his mate a tender kiss on the cheek.

"I... love you too, Blu. I'll never forget you. I never knew it would come to this..."

"Enough wallowing in remorse already! You lost the damn war, so take your loss like the brave Machines you are! Or at least the brave Machines you once were..."

Hannibal stepped between the two macaws and began leading Blu away.

Lizzie trailed behind her mate, flashing Jewel a sinister smirk as she turned away.

In one last act of violence, Jewel would give her something to remember her by, even if only for a few hours.

"You'll pay for that, you whore!"

Jewel flung herself forward and tackled Lizzie to the ground. The force of the impact sent tremors through the ground.

Before the female had a chance to recover, she raised her right foot and raked it across her back. The sword-like edges of her talons scored into Lizzie's body and left three jagged tears in the metal.

She screamed in agony, and Jewel raised her foot for another strike.

A loud thud traveled up Jewel's body, and when she looked up, he saw her mate lying on the ground, belly down.

"I see you still haven't learned your lesson, you witless wretch. Let me see if this helps..."

Hannibal placed his foot on Blu's back and inflicted upon him the exact same wound that Lizzie had received.

"Ahhh! My back! Oh God, please stop!"

Blu writhed from the mind-numbing pain while still in Hannibal's grasp, but he could not break free.

Once he was able to speak, he fixed Jewel with a tragic glare and moaned, "Let... her go. I'm begging you..."

Stricken with grief, Jewel removed herself off of Lizzie and retreated rapidly.

"That's more like it! Know your place, cretin. If you don't mind, I will be leaving now, with your precious mate as a token of accomplishment. I do believe it will be very hard for you to follow..."

Hannibal brought Blu to his feet and aimed the barrel of his Assault Rifle at his eye as they walked away.

Lizzie limped along behind.

Blu managed to cast one last glance at his mate, and the look she returned seemed to say, "I'll come back for you. I'll get you back to Rio or I will die trying..."

Once they vanished beyond the border of the clearing, she heard Lizzie shout, "Feel free to kill them all!"

_Just great! I have to get out of here with as many soldiers as possible. No, I can't do that. I'll have to fight these Traitors to the death!_

Jewel aimed her weapons at as many enemies as she could target and yelled, "It's time to show these Traitors who's boss! Tear them apart..."

* * *

><p>They were barely past the clearing, and Blu was still reeling from the pain of the attack by Hannibal, and he found it hard to walk. He realized that some of the wiring just below his back had been cut, and his legs were partially paralyzed.<p>

"What the hell is your problem? Can't you walk any faster?"

"Some of my wiring is damaged! I can't control my legs properly..."

"I wonder who's fault that is? Perhaps your mate should learn to keep her talons to herself."

Hannibal stopped and turned around.

"Are you okay, Lizzie?"

"I'm fine. That Precursor slut gave me a nasty wound."

"You can be repaired back at home. Why don't you give the order to our soldiers to finish off the others?"

"With pleasure..."

She returned to the edge of the clearing and shouted, "Feel free to kill them all!"

A limitless dread overtook Blu.

"No! You said you weren't going to harm them!"

"Do you not know what a lie is, Blu? I tend to tell them quite a lot. Now, can you still fly?"

Blu hung his head like a deflated balloon and replied, "Yes."

"That's yes Sir, cretin. Now, deploy your engine so we can head back to the Jumper. I am already feeling homesick."

Blu did as he was told and languidly revved up his engine.

"Excellent. Follow me or suffer the consequences..."

Hannibal jetted off towards the north, and Blu trailed a few feet behind. The injured Lizzie brought up the rear.

Before he could even climb above the canopy, Blu heard the sounds of laser fire and gunshots echo from behind him, a deafening chorus that shattered his world.

_I love you, Jewel. I'll miss you. If you're still alive, I'll wait for you to come back to me... however long that takes..._

* * *

><p>At precisely 0700 hours, Blu and Jewel had their Cores replaced by the pair of snakes, ending their Shut-down and bringing therm to full alertness.<p>

"Good morning, Commanders." said Nixus.

"Likewise, friends." replied Blu.

"Today is going to be a busy day, for there are several matters that require your attention."

"Is that so? Why don't we get started then?" asked Blu rhetorically.

He and Jewel ambled across the room, leaving Nixus and Raxus to follow behind. They emerged into the decently-lit hallway and continued on until they found one of the elevators.

They crammed themselves into it, and Jewel punched the button that signified the lowest level of the base. The elevator rumbled slightly, and after coming to a nearly perfect stop, the curved doors parted and allowed the group of Machines out into the hall.

They trekked down the narrow passage, earning proud salutes from the passers-by. They came to the entrance of the Control Room, and Gabriel and Andrew were planted on either side.

"Good morning, Commanders. I trust you and your mate have recovered from the turmoil of the previous day."

"Indeed we have, Gabriel. Your concern for us is most pleasing."

"Thank you, Commanders. Come, your children await you..."

He parted the doors with a press of a button, and the two Scarlet Macaws walked into the fluorescent Control Room calmly. The rest of the party followed, leaving the sea of light behind them and traveling down the hall from the left side of the room. A third set of doors they came upon, and the two guardians resumed their stone-still poses.

"Here we are, Commanders. Please proceed."

"Thank you, Andrew. Your services to us make us proud."

Andrew nodded to Jewel while Blu clicked his talon against the keypad. A soft grating sound was heard, and the group of Machines walked past the entrance and into the oh-so-familiar workplace of their children. The entrance was sealed off with a thump, and all six of Blu and Jewel's offspring stood before them happily.

"Did you sleep well, Mama? Papa?"

"Yes we did, my dears. Did you six manage to sleep last night?" replied Blu.

"Actually, yes," stated Liliana. "The radar screens showed nothing out of the ordinary, and the cameras showed nothing other than regular animal life. We went to our quarters and began our sleep at 2200 hours. It was a well-deserved break, one we haven't had in over a week."

"Before we move on to the _real_ business, there is something we need to ask you."

"What is that, Stefano?" queried Jewel innocently.

"Since nothing hostile has been detected since yesterday's ambush, we would like to have today off from our surveillance duties. We know it our task to make sure the base is safe, but we need to get away from it all for a while."

Blu and Jewel fixed each other with delicate gazes. Their children had proven their dedication by watching the screens for a week straight, and if anyone deserved a temporary reprieve, it was them.

There were times in war when action must be taken, and there were times in war when relaxation was required.

Blu and Jewel did not enjoy enslaving their children to the rigors of work, for they had just as rigorous a duty as they did. They turned back to their children with caring expressions, and the answer was conveyed before Blu even spoke.

"Of course, my children! I see nothing wrong with that."

"Thank you, Papa!"

Ricardo rushed forward and slammed into his father excitedly.

"Oh! You're welcome, son."

"Nixus and Raxus told us that there are a few things we have to deal with today. What are they?" asked Jewel.

"First off, we learned from Base 107 that the assault Machine is only a few days away from completion. They asked that you come by and assess the condition of the Machine before the final construction begins.

Second, the Creators have learned about the ambush that occurred yesterday, and they would like you to meet with them in a week. They sent us a transmission at 0530 hours. They say they have drafted plans for a ship that will help end the war, and they would like to hear your thoughts. They are also concerned about your well being."

"Did they go into any details about it in the transmission?"

"No, father, "countered Vicente. "They didn't want to risk having the plan discovered, should the Traitors decide to tune in and try to intercept the message."

"I see."

"Oh, one more thing, father. A scouting party is scheduled to leave at 2030 hours and conduct a sweep of Sectors J1 through J20. That is all."

Blu and Jewel paused to soak in the information and evaluate their responses.

"Send a message back to the Creators and tell them that we will meet them in one week. Ask who they want us to bring along."

"Right away, father."

Vicente broke away from his siblings and walked towards the rear of the room, towards the communication panel.

"Jewel and I will lead the sweeping operation. What group has offered to conduct it?"

"Division Four of the 2nd Enclave." stated Ricardo.

"Very well. See to it that they are gathered in the Control Room by 2000 hours. We will join them shortly after and begin the sweep."

"Yes, father." replied Josefina.

"Is there anything else you want to know, Jewel?"

"I think we've covered it all for now. Why don't we head over to Base 107 and see how things are going?"

"Sounds good, Jewel."

Blu turned away from her and faced his children once again.

"Can you handle things here while we're gone?"

"Yes, Papa. We'll take care of everything that you asked us to do. You won't have to worry." replied Esperanza.

"How could I expect anything less from my wonderful children? You all are free to roam about the base, but make sure everything stays in order. We will return in a few hours."

"Okay, Papa. We love you."

He received powerful hugs from his children, and then they moved on to hug their mother.

"Goodbye, my dears. Stay safe, okay?"

"Sure thing, mother!" they all replied confidently.

Blu, Jewel, and the pair of snakes left the room and paused just outside the entrance.

"Gabriel, Andrew?" asked Jewel.

"Yes, Commander?"

"Our children have been granted the day off from their duties."

"Very well." replied the two macaws evenly.

"On second thought, you two can have the day of as well. Find two others to serve as your replacements, and then you may go where you wish."

"Oh! Why thank you, Commander!"

The Scarlet Macaws bowed gratefully to Jewel, and she smiled widely.

"You must stop that, you two. You make me feel like a dictator!" she exclaimed mockingly.

"Oh, but you deserve it, Commander. You are our leader, and your position warrants respect."

"I guess that's true. Well, being as you have the day off, we do not mind if we do not receive that respect. For today, feel free to be yourselves! That's what life is all about, whether we are natural animals or... something more."

"As you wish, Commander, I mean Jewel!"

"That's a start, Andrew. That's a start..."

The quartet of Machines walked back down the hall and emerged into the Control Room. They turned to the right and marched towards the exit labeled "Tunnel B3."

The remote-controlled doors slid open, and the four Machines began the long walk down the tunnel, towards the beach. They stepped from the end of the path after a five-minute walk, the ancient sand crunching and shifting beneath their feet.

Raxus slithered up beside Jewel and tapped her wing with his head.

"Yes, Raxus?"

"Where is Base 107 located? I don't think I've ever been there."

"It's located near the western edge of Brazil. It's about a thirty minute flight at top speed, but since you two came along, it might take an hour or two."

"Do you want us to stay behind then? We don't mean to delay you."

"Not at all, Raxus! We enjoy your company, and since you haven't seen the base, you should come along."

"I see you point, Commander. Very well then. Let's be on our way!"

"Wait!" shouted Blu.

"What is it, honey?"

"How about we spice up our journey with a little game?"

The other three creatures were intrigued, their expressions curious.

"What sort of game, Commander?"

"Simple, Nixus. You and Raxus will race to Base 107, and my mate and I will fly behind you as judges."

The two serpents looked first at Blu and then at each other, a competitive fire flickering in their eyes.

"That sounds attractive, Commander. Just tell us when to be off!" declared Nixus.

She and Raxus coiled their tungsten carbide bodies and awaited Blu's signal. He deployed his Short-Range Laser and spun the barrel. He fired off a volley of pulses towards the west and yelled, "Race!"

The snakes lunged forward and churned the sand, throwing up walls of the material on either side of them and streaking towards the jungle.

"Quick, Jewel. We can't lose them!"

"Right!"

The dual whine of two turbofans echoed across the bay, and the two Spix's Macaws rose into flight and followed the scar on the ground below. Blu and Jewel boosted their speed to catch up with the racers, and then dialed it back to match.

The snakes below were hardly visible through the canopy, but the rumbling and tearing sounds of their ten-foot Shells allowed for easy tracking.

The racers were traversing the jungle at seventy miles an hour, weaving and dodging trees, ponds, and the occasional animal that happened to be in their path.

Ten minutes into the competition, it seemed that Jewel's protector had pulled ahead. She was smirking at Blu while they flew, and he affected a distraught gaze.

He pointed his head down and screamed, "Come on, Nixus! Don't let him beat you!"

Hoping his voice had cut through the air and reached his comrade, Blu refocused on flying, albeit slightly slower than before.

"What's the matter, Blu? Is Nixus falling behind? I wish there was some way you could help. Oh wait, that would be cheating!"

"You just wait, Jewel. Nixus will catch up when Raxus least expects it!"

"We'll see, _Commander_!"

In the midst of their conversation, they had let their speed decrease significantly. The chorus of heaving metal and foliage tearing had become quite faint to even their advanced sense of hearing.

"We better catch up, Blu. We don't want to miss seeing who is the true victor!"

Jewel zoomed away from her mate in seconds, leaving a wake of heated air behind her.

"Hey! They're the ones racing, not us!"

Blu tore after her at one hundred and thirty miles an hour, his brain churning with anxiety at who would reach their destination first: his comrade or hers...

* * *

><p>The event continued for another thirty minutes, and off in the distance, a great dome could be seen shadowing the jungle. It was about half the size of the headquarters back in Rio, and it had good reason to be.<p>

Base 107 was one of the major assembly and storage locations of the army. Many of the soldiers had had their Shells constructed here, along with their weapons and engines.

The monochrome black shape – painted that way to allow it to be hidden in the nighttime hours – quickly grew larger, and the two Spix's Macaws opted to drop down to the floor and see who had won.

They dropped roughly to the ground outside of the base, and Jewel's expression quickly turned from smug to shocked.

It was not Raxus who was coiled up in a victory pose, but Nixus.

"What! How did you beat him!"

Jewel stormed up to Nixus, barely struggling to contain her disappointment.

"I managed to distract him with a well-timed shout, and he lost focus. He barreled into quite a sizable tree and toppled it over. He was never able to recover the lead."

Blu joined the snake and wrapped his wing around her limber body.

"Way to go, my friend! You put a lot of effort into this challenge, and you won. Congratulations."

Moments later, the churning form of Raxus exploded from the trees and skidded to a stop before them.

"She beat me fair and square, Commander. Nonetheless, it was a very thrilling experience!"

His upbeat tone instantly lightened Jewel's mood. She was mildly upset by the loss, but as long as he was cheerful, she had no reason to spoil it.

"I understand. You can't win all the battles! Let's head inside now. I am very eager to see how the assault Machine is turning out!"

Jewel broke into a steady sprint and grabbed Blu's wing as she passed by.

"Woah! Hey, what's the rush?"

"Such a lively pair, aren't they, Nixus?"

"Indeed, friend. We better not keep them waiting!"

The two snakes dashed off towards the entrance and slipped through the doors, hot on the tails of their leaders.

The interior of the Base was not organized like the others; it was a massive open space with a domed ceiling, just how it appeared on the outside. A ring of spotlights bolted high above, near the apex of the dome, cast a wash of sky-blue light over the entire floor of the Base.

At least two hundred engineers, welders, and scientists occupied this space, all involved in one task or another. It was like a secret society, a melting pot of different individuals and species all devoted to one common goal.

A large frame encircled the perimeter of the space, used to ferry excessively heavy objects from one area to another via a crane.

This was one of the very few times either Blu or Jewel had ventured here, and they had no clue as to where the cyborg was being built. A Military Macaw who was busy scribbling notes on a blueprint noticed their confusion and came over.

"Can I help you with something, Commander?"

"Yes. I was told that a large Machine was being constructed here. Could you show me where it is?

" "Yes of course! Follow me..."

They weaved their way throughout the dome, and it seemed as if the macaw was leading them nowhere.

Finally, as they neared the side of the dome farthest from the entrance, they came upon a collection of structures that gave them pause.

On a large platform rested four towering legs, bent backwards in the middle. Just behind them was something that awed them completely: the snarling gaze of a massive metal wolf's head, complete with visible teeth and a highly polished nose.

"What the! This is... amazing! Who is responsible for this?" exclaimed Blu.

"I can gather them here if you wish, Commander."

"Please do! Thank you very much!"

The Military Macaw vanished into the sea of bodies without a sound.

"It's a... giant wolf! Is this thing actually going to fight with us?"

"Of course it is, honey! It may look deadly now, but just wait until it's powered up."

Blu shuddered with the thought of having this cyborg wolf along side him in battle or for a patrol.

He walked around to the front end of the platform and drew right up to the legs. Two of the legs possessed five deadly claws, while the two others sported four. The sickle-like claws bore a slight curve, and their tips glistened in the bluish light raining down from above.

_One of these could easily tear me wide open with one swipe! Damn, this thing is going to be deadly! I want to have it up and running as soon as possible._

"We've got company, Blu. Look over here!"

Jewel's sensuous voice caused him to jerk his head up.

"What is it? Oh."

"These are the workers who have been building this... thing."

He strode over to them and smiled with pride.

"Greetings, Commander. I see you are quite surprised by our accomplishments." said the Scarlet Macaw at the front of the group.

"Yes I am! You and your co-workers have certainly built a very deadly cyborg! How close is it to completion?"

"We have but four days of construction left, Commander. As you can see, the legs and head are already finished. We have to fabricate the body, bond all of the parts together, and then go inside and install the wiring. Following that, we'll install the Core and the various weapons and conduct a test run. If no problems arise, then it will be fully combat ready."

"Excellent. Once the cyborg is functional, can you have it escorted to the HQ?"

"I don't see why not. My team and I will personally transport it from here to Rio de Janeiro once all testing is complete."

"Good. I have a few questions that need answers."

"What might those be, Commander?"

"How tall will it be?"

"We estimate it will be sixteen feet tall. The legs are eighteen feet tall, but since they are never fully extended, some of that height is lost."

"How long will it be?"

"Thirty-six feet from nose to tail. Would you like to know the armaments it will carry?"

This was perhaps the most exciting bit of information Blu would ever find out, and so he replied, "Yes!"

"We will mount a rocket launcher on each shoulder, two six-inch guns on the back, and install an internal one barrel laser that fires from the mouth."

"Amazing! You are a very talented group of workers, and I congratulate your dedication to this project."

"Thank you, Commander!" intoned the Scarlet Macaw. "It is our pleasure to be able to design such a lethal feat of engineering. This will certainly strike terror into the Scions of our enemies!"

"It sure will! You are all free to go, but this Machine must be completed in four days. No exceptions."

"As you wish, Commander. We shall see you in four days' time..."

The batch of fifteen engineers dispersed and faded away into the dozens of other birds. Blu stared long and hard at the disassembled wolf that lay before him.

_ From the most gifted of minds come the most sinister of artifacts. This Machine will certainly give us an edge over the Traitors. If we can somehow bring the fight to their home base and wipe them out, the rest of their army will have little power to resist! This war could be over within the year! Still, I wonder what plans the Creators have drawn up for us. What kind of ship do they want us to build? I guess we will find out soon enough._

After Blu shook the anticipation from his body, he drew up beside Jewel and said, "I think we should head on back to Rio. Our children may have it under control, but you never know what could be going on in our absence."

"Are you trying to say that our kids aren't mature enough to handle the HQ? That is one of the _last _things you should be worrying about! They can take care of things."

"Whatever you say, honey. Maybe it's because I miss them."

Jewel softened her expression and wrapped one of her expansive wings around Blu.

"I miss them too. But hey, they're practically immortal!"

"Yeah, that's true."

"Still, you do have a point. Everything seems to be going just fine here, so we might as well head back."

Blu and Jewel turned away from the hulking group of parts and returned to the entrance from which they came.

Right before they passed through the exit doors, they stopped to wave goodbye to the Military Macaw, who was still scribbling away on the sheet of paper with the outline of a wolf on it.

They exited Base 107 and found themselves in the middle of a glorious Rio afternoon. The blood red orb of the Sun was suspended high above, barely visible through the thick canopy.

It was reasonably warm outside, and a cool breeze was dancing throughout the rain-forest.

It was hard to believe that such melancholy could reside in a state torn by war, a place where factories of death were nestled in the peaceful jungle. It served to remind the four cyborgs that war was a diabolical concept, and everything suffered as a result.

The sky suffered from pollution, the land suffered from construction, and the animals and plants suffered when guns were fired.

The only hope that Blu, Jewel, and the two serpents could glean from the situation is that the suffering would end once they destroyed the Traitors. They contemplated this hope for several minutes, but they soon brought themselves back to the present and began the journey home.

Nixus and Raxus slithered their way across the jungle floor while their two winged companions soared above.

Maybe, just maybe, the war had entered its final stage, and within a few years, all would be well once again with the world. The future past that point was unknown, but they could not worry about that at the moment.

They had to focus on the present to make sure that they would even have a future...

The trip back to HQ was relatively quiet, since the moods of the four Machines had been soothed by the sweet aura of the rain-forest, carefree and joyous.

They crossed the bay on foot using Tunnel B3 and were swallowed by the neon glare of the Control Room. Nothing seemed out of place, and Blu and Jewel caught sight of Stefano on the opposite side of the room, consulting with one of the soldiers who sat in front of a camera feed.

They motioned for him to come over with their wings, and their method of garnering his attention worked well. He jogged across the room and met their cheerful expressions with his own.

"How are you, son?"

"Just fine, mother. How was your little trip?"

"It went pretty well. Our two friends here raced each other to the Base while we followed behind. Nixus won, but it was still a lot of fun! We got to see the unfinished cyborg, and it was so awe-inspiring. It may give us a decent edge in the war. Now tell me, how were things over on this end?"

Stefano straightened his posture and replied, "Just fine, actually. My brothers and sisters decided to take a nap in their quarters. They left me to handle this place all by myself! How's that for friendship? Oh, that reminds me! Two macaws named... Sarah and Hector wanted to speak to you, mother. They're in the Scion lab upstairs. How do they know you?"

Blu and Jewel were beside themselves with elation. The Blue and Gold Macaws had already been placed in their own Shells and had been given new lives!

Just two days ago they had been found by Jewel in a less-than-pleasant state. They were scared, alone, and unsure of where to go. Only to add to that, the female was injured and her prognosis was grim.

They had elected to be Reborn, the process in which they were killed and given their own brand-new mechanical bodies.

"I found them the day of your father's ambush when I went on patrol in the city. Sarah was injured, and the medics didn't think she'd ever fly again. They decided to join our lifestyle, and I didn't know they would be living again so soon!"

Stefano had been temporarily stunned by his mother's tale. He had undergone the same process many decades ago at the hands of the Creators. It was not an easy one, having to give up your natural life for a life more immortal, but a life without children. He knew what they had gone through, even if it was a long-forgotten memory.

"Wow, that's wonderful! They must be so happy, and you must be so... proud."

"I truly am, Stefano. Oh, I can't wait to see them again! They might become my best friends and my favorite soldiers."

"I won't keep you, mother. I have more business to attend to. I'll see you later. I love you!"

"I love you too, son. Take care."

Once Stefano had vanished from their side, Blu took hold of his mate's wing and led her out of the Control Room.

Nixus and Raxus followed amiably.

He was beaming with pride, but she was mostly confused. Nixus had no clue who Hector and Sarah were, but she would soon find out.

After a tense elevator ride and a trip down a gloomy hall, they all emerged into the blinding light of the lab. Before Jewel could even search for her friends, she was squeezed in a smothering hug by both of them.

"Woah! I know you missed me, but..."

"Oh, sorry, Jewel! I mean... sorry, Commander."

"It's okay, Hector. I would've acted the same way. So, how does it feel to be part animal and part Machine?"

"It's so... liberating! No more earthly problems to worry about. I just wish that we could've had children before all of this. That's the hardest thing to deal with right now..."

"I know that it pains you to lose that ability, but you must focus on your new lives. We are still at war here, and you are now two faithful soldiers. You can still be together of course, but a higher calling awaits. You must be expected to fight alongside us if need be, and if the situation arises, give your life for another. This life does have its liberties, but also its vices. Are you both prepared to handle that?"

"Yes, Commander!" they assured her in unison. "It may take us some time to adjust, but we will do our best. We promise you that."

"That is all I can ask of you. I am glad to welcome you into my ranks, and I know that you will make me proud."

"Are you ready to go out and blast some holes in the Traitors' heads? Show them some Brazilian muscle?"

Blu's insensitive outburst caused Jewel to whip around.

"Really Blu? They just got their new bodies, and you're already talking to them about killing? Don't you have an ounce of self-control?"

"Hey, I'm just excited, that's all!"

That was not the response she was looking for, and her hostile glare continued.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to_ them_."

Blu brushed past Jewel rather sluggishly and stood in front of the two macaws, who were noticeably shorter than he was.

He extended his foot out and muttered, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. If you haven't heard, my name's Blu."

Hector shook his talon feebly, and then Sarah followed suit.

"It's okay. It is an honor to meet the mate of our savior. Maybe one day Hector and I will be able to actually fight some Traitors."

"Let's hope the war isn't over before then! No, I'm only joking. Perhaps it is better if you two never have to fight. It is not glorious or something to grow prideful over. Taking the lives of others is not easy, for whatever reason you had to take their lives in the first place, and it leaves a stain on your soul. I do not want to see you or Hector come to believe that killing is okay. Just live one day at a time, and pray that Jewel and I find away to bring this war to a halt."

"As you wish, Commander." they replied dutifully.

"I assume that you two are very busy learning how to control your new bodies, so we will leave you in peace. Or would you rather us stay and keep you company?" asked Blu innocently.

"Oh, would you mind staying, Blu and Jewel? And maybe the snakes can stay too. You're the only friendly faces we know right now..."

"Perhaps spending a few hours in here won't be so bad, right Blu?"

"Not at all. We'll stay with you."

He turned away from the delighted macaws and faced the pair of snakes behind him.

"Why don't you go and help Stefano run things downstairs? He just can't stop working and helping out the other soldiers, and he's doing it all by himself. Such a devoted son..."

"Right away, Commander. We will alert you if anything major comes up..."

Blu and Jewel's bodyguards bent their bodies around and slithered through the exit.

"You can go back to whatever you were doing before we joined you. Don't worry, we won't interrupt!"

Hector and Sarah retreated to the far wall of the room and joined a pair of Blue-winged Macaws.

"Remember Blu, we have that jungle sweep to carry out this evening."

"I remember. I just hope that it goes well and we don't find anything hostile. I've already been killed once this week. I don't want it to happen again..."

Blu and Jewel stood by and listened to the lecture given to their Blue and Gold Macaws friends about how to adapt and control to their mechanical bodies and the limits it had. They also participated in some short training exercises to see if they had understood the plethora of knowledge bestowed upon them.

They performed quite well for being so fresh, and even Blu and Jewel were impressed.

The entire ordeal spirited away the hours, and the two Spix's Macaws were so pleased with their friends' progress that it drew alarmingly close to the operation time.

One of the lab workers told them casually that it was 1945 hours, and they quickly said goodbye to Sarah and Hector before dashing from the room.

Once in the Control Room, they came upon Division Four grouped loosely in the center of the room. Blu and Jewel's rather hasty entry caught their attention, and they did their best to compose themselves.

They were known to be very punctual leaders, and this near-miss left them feeling slightly ashamed. Granted, they had a valid reason to be tardy, but only they knew what that reason was. Even so, they stood at the head of the group with confidence and cool expressions.

The looks they were receiving convinced them that their subordinates did not think any less of them.

Jewel stamped her talon for silence and said, "You have been gathered here, Division Four, to be escorted on a sweeping operation, which you already know about. Blu and I have elected to lead the operation, but only by choice, not by necessity.

You are all brave and worthy fighters of the 2nd Enclave, and we are glad to have you as part of our army. The operation will most likely be a peaceful one, but do not lower your guard. Each and every one of you needs to be calm, and yet ready for action. That is all for now. We will depart at-"

A strong male voice cut through Jewel's from a few away.

"Commander, our radar has picked up movement!"

Jewel stepped away from the soldiers and over to the bank of screens. She located the source of the noise and squeezed in beside the Hyacinth Macaw's chair and the one to the left of it.

"How many and in what Sector?" demanded Jewel.

The deep blue macaw pointed with his left wing and replied, "Two hostiles in Sector J17. They seem to be stationary."

_Well, what do you know. They're right in one of the Sectors that we were going to cover! Might as well go see what the hell they're up to..._

She forced her way out from between the chairs and drew close to her mate.

"What is it, my love?"

"There's two hostiles in Sector 17. We should head over there immediately. Might as well start the night off with a bang."

"Alright then."

Blu returned his gaze to the soldiers before him and declared, "It seems that two hostiles have invaded the area. We will go meet them at once, and if any trouble rises, we have enough firepower to take care of it. Turns out this may be an exciting trip after all. Let's move, Division Four!"

Blu and Jewel ambled down Tunnel B3 with the line of soldiers in tow, their mechanical bodies brimming with a sense of dark anticipation.

Once on the beach, they rose into flight and opted not to use their engines, since the target sector was only a few miles outside of Rio.

The night sky was sprayed with stars, but the lovely afternoon breeze had vanished.

As they drew ever closer to the disturbance site, their anticipation grew in direct proportion. They hoped to be able to brandish their weapons and even fire off a few shots.

It was like they had been in an immobile state, and their atrophied muscles could now be flexed. Oh how they longed to feel the recoil of their Assault Rifles and sense the heat flowing from the red-hot barrels of their Lasers.

Eventually, Blu and Jewel dropped to the ground after descending through the layers of air in a tight spiral, ending up in a dense cluster of vines and berry bushes.

All of the soldiers who couldn't fit in the bushes gathered just outside, keeping Blu and Jewel's voices in range.

"Two of you need to go and meet the unknowns and see if they pose a threat. Call us at once if they do _anything _suspicious!"

A Scarlet Macaw and a Blue-throated Macaw trudged past them and out of hiding. After a short wait, they heard one of the macaws yell, "Hey, we found two birds out here! The radar was right!"

Blu turned around in the darkness and whispered, "I want more of you to go out there. Back up the others."

A small group of macaws left the shadows and vanished from sight, the leaves and vines rustling as they passed.

"Who are you?" asked one of the hidden birds just past the screen of plants.

A much more gruff voice replied, "I am Hannibal, and this is my mate, Lizzie. We come in peace..."

Those words triggered a feral reaction in Blu and Jewel, and they nearly flung themselves from their spot.

Those names belonged to the two most hated Machines on the planet. They were to the Traitors what Blu and Jewel were to the Creators: the leaders of their respective armies and the sole reason the other side had not won the war.

It was _them_: the scourge of Earth and the reason why thousands of individuals on both sides had lost their lives.

Blu and Jewel's sole mission was to eradicate them from Earth, and here they were, all alone save for themselves and surrounded by a throng of enemy soldiers.

The opportunity was _perfect._

But something wasn't adding up. Hannibal and Lizzie were by no means stupid; they had been designed in the exact same way as Blu and Jewel, and thus they possessed the exact same supercomputer brains.

Why would they come alone? Why would they blatantly announce their presence on radar? Why were they not fleeing, when they were clearly outnumbered?

No, something was very wrong here, and the two Spix's Macaws were bristling with uncertainty and anger.

A quintet of macaws burst through the wall of plants and faced their leaders questioningly.

"Who are Hannibal and Lizzie? Do you know them?"

"Of course we know them! They are the leaders of the Traitors!" fumed Jewel. "We might as well see what those two demons want. They probably already know that we're here."

"Let's go then. But we have to be careful, more careful than we've ever been before! Tell all of our soldiers to surround them completely."

"Right away, Commander!"

Blu and Jewel followed the other macaws from their spot, and they found themselves in a small clearing. They caught sight of their archenemies just across the way, and they felt their emotional control slip.

They stormed up to Hannibal and Lizzie, and Jewel declared, "What the hell are you two doing here?"

Both she and Blu quickly brought out all five of their weapons and aimed them right at the two macaws, but that action had no effect on them.

"Patience, Jewel! We have come alone, for we need to talk to you and your mate."

Jewel was incredulous, and she made her emotions known.

"Really? You've got to be joking! Why would two abominations such as you come to just 'talk?' You're usually too busy scheming and plotting back in Amarillo, not to mention killing your _own _soldiers. What business could you possibly have with us?"

She noticed Hannibal shift, as if her words had stung him internally. But beyond that, he did not react.

"Is this how you treat your guests, Jewel? It does not become you at all. I presumed you and Blu were noble and respectful leaders. Perhaps I am mistaken..."

Blu and Jewel heard a multitude of clicks and shuffles as their soldiers drew their weapons.

Jewel cut into them with a knife-like glare, and Blu demanded, "Just get to the point, assholes!"

Hannibal stood up a little taller and replied, "Fine. My mate and I have now understood the futility of this war, and we wish to discuss a truce. I am sure you and Jewel have had the same thoughts. Why else would we come alone and keep our arms hidden when you so openly brandished yours?"

Blu and Jewel blinked; they had not expected this! As far as they could tell, he was telling the truth. They, in all their unreal intelligence, could not think of a single way to dispute his statement.

"Hmmm. Well then, let's hear the details of your so-called 'truce.'" announced Blu.

"You see, neither of us has made any progress against the other, and so we should resolve to end this war peacefully, rather than with violence.

Perhaps the Traitors were deluded by power, and that is why they defected. I believe that we could get them to dissolve those notions of power and be subdued. If you can do the same with the Creators, a common peace will ensue. Isn't that what you've been seeking all along?"

Hannibal's eloquent speech carried great weight, but something in his words sounded off.

Jewel stared at Blu as he replied, "I see. You have certainly done your homework, Hannibal. But I am still skeptical about all of this. Why so sudden? Is there something you're not telling us?"

"Do you really want the answer?"

Jewel cut in and replied, "Of course."

"Well then, here it is, Jewel. This war has gone on for too long, and Lizzie and I want to see it end very soon. And yes, there is something we are not telling you. We do want the war to end, yes, but we have made sure that we will be the ones who will live to see that happen. Come, Traitors! Surround them and draw your weapons!"

Before they could react, the edges of the clearing shook and trembled, and a large force of enemy cyborgs hemmed them in. In that moment, their gut feelings flooded them with a wave of scorching shame and utter defeat.

They had been duped; Hannibal had kept them talking until his backup forces arrived.

It was impossible to believe, but yet here they were; trapped, outnumbered, and furious.

"You bitch!" yelled Jewel.

"No, I think _you _deserve that title, Jewel. I thought you and your mate were the two smartest beings on this planet. It turns out that you are nothing but a pair of impetuous fools!"

Blu watched as Jewel lashed out at the male, but he easily sidestepped the attack and revealed his own weapons. His face was smug and calculating.

"I wouldn't attempt that, Jewel. My soldiers outnumber yours two to one. We could have you all slaughtered with mere a command. Now, here's the _real_ truce I intend to offer you: Either you or Blu hand yourselves over to us, or we dispose of you and move on to plunder your home base. This is but a small sample of the force we have brought along, and I can call them in within a minute. Make your choice."

Blu and Jewel's soldiers started talking, their frantic and defiant voices echoing all around them.

"What do we do, Commander?" queried one. "I'll take down a few of these bastards before I die! Just give me the order." proclaimed another. "Can we fight our way out?" pleaded a third.

Both Spix's Macaws knew it was hopeless. Trying to break free would only result in complete eradication of them all.

"Quiet, all of you! No one will do anything until Jewel or I says so!" shouted Blu.

Jewel caught his terrified gaze, and she returned one of her own, mixed with loss and dread. She would not jeopardize the lives of her comrades by giving the command to attack.

She would offer herself up in return.

She hung her head and muttered, "Fine, Hannibal. You win. I will not allow my soldiers to be slaughtered due to my folly. If you must, take me away and leave them unharmed."

Before she could take two steps toward the vicious male, her mate's cold wing stopped her.

"What the? Blu?" He brought his entire body around in front of her defiantly.

"No Jewel, you stay. I'll go with them."

"But Blu!"

She didn't want him to go. She _needed _him, and now he was giving himself up in her place.

"Don't argue with me, Jewel. I love you too much to see you sacrifice yourself like this..."

A crushing sensation welled up inside her, as if she wanted so desperately to cry, but was unable.

"This is goodbye, Jewel. I am so sorry, but I think we've lost the war. We may not ever see each other again. I love you..."

A soft kiss from Blu concluded his tragic announcement.

If it was all she could do to ease his loss, she replied, "I... love you too, Blu. I'll never forget you. I never knew it would come to this..."

The guttural screech of Hannibal murdered the kind words that hung in the air.

"Enough wallowing in remorse already! You were so casually outsmarted by us, so take your defeat like the brave Machines you are! Or at least the brave Machines you once were..."

The unforgiving male thrust himself between the two victims and yanked Blu along, towards the opposite end of the clearing.

Lizzie came up behind him and threw Jewel a venomous glare, as if to say, "Sucks for you..."

That was it. She had crossed the line, and she was going to _feel _the consequences of her action.

"You'll pay for that, you whore!"

Jewel tensed her body and leaped forwards, slamming her chest into Lizzie's back and driving her into the ground.

The collision of their massive bodies rumbled through the damp earth.

While Lizzie was still dazed, Jewel scoured her open talons across her back, ripping into her like a saw and exposing some of her internal wiring.

Her agonized yell filled Jewel with sadistic pleasure, and she raised her foot for a second blow.

She would never get the chance.

A dull thud registered in her tungsten carbide bones, and she raised her head instantly. Hannibal had thrown Blu to the ground and was now standing over him like a predator would stand over its kill.

"I see you still haven't learned your lesson, have you, bastard? Let me see if this helps..."

Hannibal imitated Jewel's attack on Lizzie, and Blu's bloodcurdling scream froze Jewel completely.

"Ahhh! My back! Oh God, please stop!"

He squirmed like a dissected snake and could not get to his feet. He fixed one eye on Jewel and pleaded, "Let... her go. I'm begging you..."

Jewel unfroze her paralyzed body and stepped away from Lizzie.

"That's more like it! Know your place, cretin. If you don't mind, I will be leaving now, with your precious mate as a token of accomplishment. I do believe it will be very hard for you to follow..."

As Hannibal's taunt curled out into the night, he jerked Blu to his feet and dragged him away. Hannibal's mate staggered to her talons and limped along like a homeless child.

Jewel noticed Hannibal's Assault Rifle resting right up against Blu's left eye, and she knew to stay put.

His right eye turned back to her briefly, and the beam of emotions it shot out was stupefying. Jewel resolved right then that she would, in time, do her best to retrieve her mate, even if it meant her death.

She masked these words in the glance she returned to Blu: "I'll come back for you. I'll get you back to Rio or I will die trying..."

The foliage at the edge of the clearing swallowed them up, but the enemy fighters did not leave with them.

One deadly shout filtered through the plants, courtesy of Lizzie: "Feel free to kill them all!"

Jewel no longer had no choice. Fleeing was not an option. If she wanted to uphold her vow to her mate, she had to escape this clearing alive.

Her powerful brain quickly calculated the most vulnerable targets, and her weapons automatically swiveled to face them_._

She cocked her Assault Rifle, charged up her Volt Cannon and Extended-Range Laser, and spun the barrel of her rapid-fire Short-Range Laser.

She braced herself for the coming battle and issued one last order to her subordinates: "It's time to show these Traitors who's boss! Tear them apart..."

Her ring of soldiers rushed outwards, directly at their enemies, and fractured the night with a chorus of death.

The enemies fired back, and as the bullets and laser beams streaked by in all directions, Jewel discharged all of her weapons in unison.

Jewel swore to bring her dear Blu back home, no matter how astronomical the cost, and she would rather take her own life than fail him now...


	3. Ally In The Shadows

**Chapter 3:Ally In The Shadows**

The insidious noise. The multicolored flashing from dozens of laser beams. The shouts of agony and bellows of rage from soldiers on both sides. This was a textbook example of the chaos of war.

Only the tempered mind of Jewel's Scion prevented her from losing focus. In this day and age, losing focus in the heat of battle could be the last mistake one would ever make.

Jewel leaped back to avoid getting burned by a neon green laser beam.

Although the cloak of night still shrouded the land, her night-vision mode solved that problem with ease. The silhouette of each and every combatant was clearly outlined, allowing Jewel to differentiate between friend and foe.

After scanning around, she quickly pinpointed the source of the errant laser: a Military Macaw that was sparring with one of her own a few feet ahead of her.

The latter soldier was faring badly; one of his wings was missing, rendering him off balance and less able to maneuver. He was floored by a blow from the enemy macaw's wing, who then stepped toward him with the intent of finishing off what he had started.

_Oh no you don't! I will not stand by and watch one of my soldiers fall before my eyes! _she boasted mentally.

Jewel charged up her Volt Cannon for a solid two seconds before releasing it. A sphere of electricity rolled through the air and struck the enemy right in his chest.

The Military Macaw was enveloped in a curtain of lightning, causing him to jerk about before falling to the ground. The macaw's Core had essentially been shorted out, rendering him immobile and lifeless – as evidenced by the pitch black voids where his eyes lay.

Jewel rushed over to her soldier and hauled him to his feet with her wing.

"Thank you, Commander! I thought I was going to be Terminated."

"Are you still able to fight? If not, then-"

"No. I will assist my comrades until every last enemy is dead!"

The macaw charged off to another corner of the battlefield, ignoring his own injuries for the sake of his brethren.

_So brave and selfless. That is what turns a soldier into a hero. I have taught them well. Now It is my turn to imitate him..._

Jewel scanned for her next target and took off in his direction, her weapons yearning to be fired once again.

Being as most of the enemies were totally focused on their primary adversary, Jewel caught them off guard and slaughtered them with brutal precision.

Decapitating a Scarlet Macaw with a laser blast to the neck. Performing a triple head-shot on a Blue and Gold Macaw. Thrusting her right foot deeply into a Blue-winged Macaw's chest and tearing out his Scion.

Jewel could bring death in countless ways when called upon to do so, as she had done so many times before.

As she continued her rout of the enemy warriors, she noticed the din of the battle dwindling and dwindling. As she tore a Scarlet Macaws head off with a vicious twist of her foot and tossed his body aside, she was instantly placated by an eerie silence.

Jewel expected to be swarmed by a throng of enemy soldiers, but that was not the case. As the dust settled and visibility restored, she observed that not a single enemy was left standing.

_We've done it! A group of twenty-five soldiers, completely encircled by an armada twice that size, has emerged victorious! It seems that the Traitors have lost their touch..._

Jewel's proud revel was short-lived; she needed to tally up the dead and send for medics to aid the living.

"All soldier who are still flight-capable and not badly injured need to head to HQ and bring medics. For those that are, just stay put and do not give up hope."

Several birds rose into the air and shattered the silence with the whine of their turbofans. Jewel tasked herself with picking through the litter of bodies and seeing how many of the soldiers could be saved, and how many could not.

After coming across five of her dead subordinates, she happened upon one that was still responsive.

"What is your name?"

"Jess... Jessica."

The female macaw was terribly hurt and could hardly speak.

Both of her wings were missing, the damaged wiring that controlled them spouting bursts of sparks. Jewel could tell that they had been severed from her body by the heat of a laser, the cleanly-cut edges still glowing red.

The right side of her face was smashed in, rendering that eye useless. The remaining eye was flickering like an aged nightlight, meaning that her Core was damaged beyond repair.

Her chest also bore the telltale marks of a laser, but the damage was more than superficial. Her Scion was visible through the slice, the metal oozing and flowing like molten taffy.

Jewel shivered upon realizing that Jessica would not be leaving the battlefield alive.

"I'm... going to die... aren't I?"

"I'm afraid so, Jessica."

"Do not worry about me, Commander. I have given... my life... in your service. That is the highest... honor one can achieve."

"Indeed, Jessica. It was just as much an honor to have you in my ranks, to fight alongside me for the greater good. Your sacrifice will not be in vain. Your courage and spirit will be remembered for eons to come, your name downloaded into our records alongside countless other fallen soldiers..."

"Thank you, Commander. I am able to find some peace in the fact that... although I will not be here in physical form... I will not be truly forgotten..."

"Do you think you can hold on until-"

"No, Commander. I want you... to end my suffering. I am ready to walk into the arms of death..."

"If that is what you wish..."

Jewel raised her foot and outstretched her middle talon, bringing it down upon Jessica's forehead like a dagger. The talon buried into the metal and impaled Jessica's Core, which detonated with an audible _pop._

Just as Jessica's eye faded to black, Jewel sent up the standard prayer for the fallen: _May you rest in peace. Your spirit is free to fly the heavens..._

Jewel finished up her tally of the dead just as the medics arrived, and the results were grim: Out of the original seventy-five combatants, only ten had survived, not counting herself. All of Hannibal's soldiers had been slaughtered, along with fifteen of Jewel's own.

All throughout the sweep, the sparks spouting from the multitude of dead bodies made it seem like Jewel was treading through a lagoon of artificial fireflies. Had she not thrown herself into the fray, it was hard not to believe that she wouldn't have been one of those bodies.

"What shall we do with the bodies, Commander?"

Jewel was startled by the voice, causing her to whip around and find a Scarlet Macaw standing before her. It did not take long for Jewel to formulate a reply.

The sixty-five motionless Shells scattered around her presented themselves as a literal gold mine of resources. There was enough tungsten carbide to forge scores of Shells and enough silicon contained in the Scions to last for months.

_Out of tragedy comes prosperity... _mused Jewel with melancholy.

"Have all of these Shells taken to the forge and melted down, but not before their Scions are extracted and harvested for silicon."

"Right away, Commander!"

He trotted away with dedication and began shouting orders to his fellow medics. Jewel watched as the pulsating outlines of the birds rose into the air, a limp body dangling below each of them.

Jewel was not one to order others around and do nothing in return; she was by no means a dictator. After securing a tight hold on three Shells – her wingspan was much larger than the medics, which allowed her to carry considerable weight – she rose into flight in the wake of the receding phalanx.

She pushed herself to triple-digit velocity, leaving the medics behind just as fast as she had overtaken them. As she zoomed towards the eastern sky, her mind was bogged down by all that needed to be done at HQ.

_ The Creators must know what has happened! The meeting must not be postponed! I hope to be able to meet with them today, if possible. I am going to need their input if we are to formulate a rescue plan. On top of that, I will have to calm the soldiers and answer the multitude of questions they will have! Oh well, that will have to wait._

Her thoughts then shifted to the whole reason why she was in such a rush: the peril of her mate. _I miss you, my love. Please hold on. The fate of the entire war rests on my shoulders, and I will do all I can to get you back before our fate is sealed..._

She zoomed through the sky as fast as she dared, for she did not want to lose her grip on her cargo and slow herself down. Her emotions were downtrodden, but she did not let them get the best of her. She took hold of a small kernel of courage inside of her, knowing that she was still alive and could still uphold the oath she swore to bring her mate back home...

The rolling rain-forest eventually gave way to the shattered city, and the gleaming dome soon rose from the bay like the carapace of a monstrous sea turtle. Jewel circled around the left side of the dome and came upon the forge that jutted from the rear of the structure.

She alighted down and dropped off her cargo, an action which piqued the interest of some of the metalworkers.

"What is that, Commander?" asked a Chestnut-fronted Macaw.

"There was... a battle back in the jungle that we barely survived. My mate was taken hostage. Many more Shells are coming your way. Take out their Scions and then melt them down."

"Right away, Commander."

The row of furnaces a few feet ahead of her were cranked up to handle the coming load, and Jewel could feel a wave of heat roll over her. She turned away from the grimy work area and entered the base from a side door.

The trip from the forge to the Control Room was a short one, but Jewel was not prepared for the onslaught that awaited her as she entered the radiance of that room.

The soldiers surrounded her like an angry mob, dozens of beaks spouting countless questions.

"Was there a battle, Commander?" queried one.

"Where is your mate?" asked another.

"Are we under attack?" cried a third.

"Where is the rest of Division Four?" pleaded a fourth.

Jewel tried to scan the room in an effort to locate her children or the two snakes, but the confused throng before her made that impossible. For that, she needed silence.

"Quiet, all of you! The audacity! Have you no respect?"

The gravity of Jewel's command slammed down on the crowd and crushed the noise from the room.

"Much better. I need to speak with the 1st Enclave right away. Does anyone know where they are?"

"They are in the Meeting Room, Commander."

Jewel did not see who issued the reply, but it did not matter.

"I am sure you have many questions that need answers, but we are in the lion's den right now. As soon as I get everything sorted out, I will do my best to answer them. Just stay calm and remain inside the Base. Do not leave for any reason..."

The crowd parted to let Jewel pass as she crossed the room and disappeared into the hallway without a sound.

One short elevator ride and trek down a quiet hall later, Jewel came upon the sealed entrance to the Meeting Room.

The two door-guards were not present.

_At least I don't have to deal with their formalities right now! I may be the one responsible for those formalities, but now is hardly the time..._

She swiftly punched in the lengthy pass-code and logged into the room before the doors were fully opened.

Her children were seated across the room, their eyes glued to the bank of screens. Nixus and Raxus were coiled up behind them, just as focused as they were and just as oblivious to Jewel's entry.

"Children, come here! Something very terrible has happened. We are in a very bad situation right now."

Her children nearly tumbled from their seats in unison at the sound of her voice. They ran up to their mother with concern pooling in their eyes.

"What is it, Mama?" asked Stefano.

"Where is Papa?" added Esperanza.

"What happened while you were gone?" pleaded Ricardo.

"Hannibal and Lizzie showed up and brought fifty soldiers with them. They... demanded that either me or your father be handed over as collateral so we could escape. I wanted to go with them, but he..."

"He took your place, didn't he?"

"Yes, Vicente. I know he did it out of love, but it killed me to watch him go! We have to get him back! They're going to try and decipher the Duplication Key that Blu is holding, and once they do, they will overrun us with an army of clones. It will be the end of us all and then the end of the world..."

Raxus tapped Jewel's left wing with his head and asked, "Just how are we going to accomplish that, Commander? Do you have a plan?"

"Sort of. We need to meet the Creators as soon as possible. They must know how dire our situation is. They should be able to help us in one way or another."

She turned away and locked her gaze with her son's.

"Vicente, see if you can establish a communication link with the Creators!"

"Give me a minute, and I'll have it done. You come too, brother and sister."

Vicente jogged over to the holographic control panel with Ricardo and Esperanza in tow.

"Was there a battle, Mama?"

"Yes, Josefina. Did you actually think the Traitors would let us leave unharmed? That's like standing in the path of a raging bull and not expect to get trampled. They have no idea what the word 'peace' is. I just can't believe that we had fallen into such a trap. All they did was keep us talking, and once their backup soldiers showed up, it was too late. If only we would have realized, Blu would still be here... still be by my side..."

Jewel lapsed into another episode of mournful trembling, her head hanging like a wilted sunflower.

"Mama, I've gotten hold of the Creators! They're waiting for you."

Jewel's spirits were lifted somewhat by the time she crossed the room and stared up at the giant screen. Her second trio of children squeezed in behind her, followed by the pair of serpents.

Ten figures were grouped together in front of the camera, lined up nicely in front of a stately metal desk.

"Is something wrong, Jewel? Why do you need to speak to us so urgently?" said a male clothed by a tight-fitting blue shirt and odd-looking jeans.

The others were all adorned with the attire of the 22nd century, but the dull reflections of the lights upon their bodies proved they were more than human. They had immortalized themselves in the exact same manner as their Machines; their bodies were completely mechanical, but the Scions within them gave them their humanity.

It was essentially a perfect fusion of both, the product of decades of grueling work by their brilliant minds. Out of the twenty original Creators, these ten were the only to remain allied to the forces of good; the others had defected to the side of evil and became the Traitors.

"I do not want to risk the possibility of this transmission being intercepted, so I'll keep it brief. The war has taken a dire turn, Julius. My mate has been kidnapped by the Traitors with the intent of deciphering the Duplication Key. We were lured into a trap just over an hour ago and then set upon by their soldiers after Blu was taken away. I need your help to devise a plan to recover him."

The shock was apparent on their metal faces, their expressions twisted into scowls. Julius was the only one to remain relatively calm.

"I advise you to come and see us immediately. Bring your children, but no one else. We will do our best to formulate a feasible plan."

"Thank you, Julius. Are you still in the same location as last year?"

"Yes, Jewel. We will be expecting your arrival."

Julius stretched his arm out and motioned like he was pushing a button. The communication link was severed, turning the screen a featureless black. The giant screen then separated into its constituent displays, and it was not long before the radar readouts and camera feeds popped back up.

"What shall we do, Commander?"

"You and Nixus will have to stay behind and keep watch over the Base. You have my full authority over the soldiers. Hopefully our visit will not last too long."

"Yes, Commander." replied the two serpents.

"Come children, we're leaving at once..."

Seven Spix's Macaws exited the room in single file and loped down the hall to the elevator. The ride was a bit cramped, but thankfully it was short, and the macaws were ambling down another hall in no time.

Once they emerged into the radiance of the Control Room, Jewel sent her children off to program the stationary Jumper for their journey and retrieve the mobile one.

Once the mobile Jumper was maneuvered out of the hallway and planted down in the center of the room, Jewel addressed her soldiers: "My children and I are going to visit the Creators to discuss solutions to the predicament we are in. As soon as we return, I will do my best to answer the myriad of questions you all have. Until then, behave like the valiant soldiers I know you are and resume your assigned tasks."

Jewel lifted her talon and keyed in the coordinates to the Base where the Creators were located. The blade-studded disk rose from the device revolved faster and faster until it spewed out a curtain of lightning. The macaws were enveloped in the harmless energy and spirited away in just a few second's time...

At a point far in the northern corner of Brazil, the sky was split by a horizontal shaft of lightning. The rift let loose a blinding flash, and seven macaws materialized before dropping lightly to the ground.

The gentle facade of what looked like a two-story house painted ivory peeked through the trees a short walk away.

They did a quick scan of their surroundings, but nothing seemed amiss. The sky was still gripped by the shadow of night, but the macaws were unable to tell how close the sunrise was due to the tight weave of the canopy above.

They marched towards the house determinedly, pushing their way past a thin wall of foliage and stepping up their pace somewhat. They arrived at the tarnished front door, and Jewel tapped it softly with her right foot.

None other than Julius opened the door, his expression split between elation and dread. He stepped aside and motioned them in with a sweep of his hand.

Once past the threshold, they surveyed the interior of the house, somewhat placated by its carefree feel. The entire lower floor seemed to be composed of only two rooms, one to the left of the door and one to the right.

A lone staircase led up to the second floor, but Jewel and her offspring were much too preoccupied to go explore what lay above their heads.

The left room bore an antique fireplace - burning brightly as orange flames consumed three large logs - and a television, along with three large leather couches. Alluring landscape pictures and ancient newspaper clippings framed with cherry wood were strung on the soft brown walls.

In the other room, a sturdy, lengthwise-oriented table sat, the nine remaining Creators evenly seated on the far side. The macaws realized that it was the room that the Creators had sent their previous broadcast from. The walls in this room were also a light brown, but were nearly bare.

Julius strode by them in the direction of his comrades and said, "Come, my friends. If the situation is as dire as you say, we should get started at once..."

Julius had seated himself by the time Jewel and the others had even reached the table. They each climbed into their own chairs and peered across at the Creators.

"So, Jewel, do you have a preliminary plan for rescuing Blu that we could evolve upon?"

"You could say that. I'm afraid it has inconsistencies that need to be addressed."

"Let's hear it."

Jewel stood up taller and laid her expansive wings on the table comfortably.

"First off, I was planning on sending a few spies to Amarillo in the hopes that they could gather key information on Blu's whereabouts and see how closely he is being guarded. As soon as they reported back, we would formulate an attack strategy to make sure that we get Blu out alive and not attract the attention of any soldiers. We are currently building a large assault Machine in the form of a wolf, and I wanted to wait until it is completed to launch the attack. It is not due to be combat-ready for another three days, and I don't want to risk waiting that long. Each day that we hold off just gives the Traitors more time to decipher the Key."

The Creators' faces appeared slightly more upbeat than before. Julius leaned forward and said, "I am impressed, Jewel. That is quite the plan, but I would like to make a few adjustments. First off, you will not need to risk the life of your spies by sending them on such a dangerous mission. We have in our possession a wealth of data about the Traitors and their hideout in Amarillo. Where the troops are most likely to be found, the layout of the city, and most importantly, the structure of Hannibal and Lizzie's main residence."

One burning question had formed on Jewel's tongue, dying to be released: "How did you collect that information, Julius?"

"We have used quite a few avian spies of our own over the past decade or so to gather that data. They were so thorough that even Hannibal and Lizzie did not know that they were being spied upon."

Jewel gazed at her children on either side of her, noticing that each one of them was smiling deviously due to Julius's stealthy accomplishment.

Jewel wasn't able to hold back that very same smile.

She looked back towards Julius, who then peered down the row of Machines to his right.

"Tom, go upstairs and bring back the disk with the Traitors' information on it please."

"You got it. Might take me some time to find it. The upstairs room is severely lacking in the organization department..."

The table shook as a man dressed in a maroon shirt and khaki shorts pushed off of the surface and left his chair. He disappeared around the wall that blocked the staircase and tromped up to the second floor, his footfalls fading away in seconds.

Julius tapped on the tabletop to garner Jewel's attention, and once she had focused on him, he spoke: "While he's taking care of that, there's one other adjustment I would like to offer you, Jewel."

"Shoot."

"I think it would be best for you to wait until your assault Machine is finished. If your presence is detected, it would allow you to still carry out the mission for two reasons: If you were discovered before you reached Blu, you would then have no choice but to try and take him back by force. On the other hand, if you were to be discovered while you were fleeing back to the Jumper you used to get there, you would need it to cover your escape. Either way you look at it, his presence is indispensable."

Julius's words rang true not only to Jewel, but also to her six offspring and the other Creators as well.

"You have made some valid points, Julius. I will modify my plan in accordance with your suggestions."

Jewel stepped onto the table, turned around, and faced her children confidently.

"Do you have anything else to add, my dears?"

"I don't, Mama. I think Julius covered it all." declared Josefina.

"Stefano? Liliana?"

They nodded their heads in agreement with their sister's statement and beamed proudly.

"Julius is a very gifted and intelligent Machine, mother. I feel like he has lived up to that fact, and then some. I have nothing to object to regarding his modifications."

"Well said, daughter."

"Neither do I." added Vicente.

"Sounds like a feasible plan to me." concluded Ricardo.

Jewel swiveled around to face Julius and said, "Everything sounds okay on my side. What about yours?"

"Ladies, gentlemen, do any of you have any suggestions for the plan?"

"Not me. Even now, it sounds like it has a very high chance of success." replied a female in a dark green long-sleeve shirt to the left of Julius.

"Thank you, Michelle. Anyone else?"

The room fell silent, and as Julius scanned the faces of his fellow scientists, he earned a series meaningful head-shakes.

"Well then, I think it is settled. You are free to leave as soon as Tom returns with the disk. We-"

A figure in a stark white t-shirt leaned over and whispered into Julius's ear.

Once he figure drew back, Julius said, "Actually, there is one last thing you need to be informed of."

"What is that?" asked Jewel expectantly.

Julius left the table and circled around to the left side of the room, stopping in front of a row of advanced-looking drawers covered in an array of lights. He summoned a holographic control panel with a press of a button and danced his fingers across the keys carefully.

The drawer beneath the panel slid open, at which point he rummaged around before pulling out what a square of metal shaped like a floppy-disk, albeit massively more high-tech. He walked back to Jewel and held the disk up in the air pointedly.

"This, Jewel, is the blueprint for the weapon that would hopefully end the war."

"What is it supposed to be?"

"We call it the L.A.A.G., or Low-Altitude Aerial Gunship. It has enough firepower to level a city in mere hours, and once your army constructs it, you can fly it to Amarillo and use it to obliterate all who oppose you."

A wicked smile graced Julius's face, and that expression was mirrored by Jewel in full.

"I'll take it." said Jewel cockily while grabbing it with her right foot and pinning it underneath her.

Just then, a flustered Tom tromped back down the stairs and came up on Jewel's other side, another square disk clutched in his hand. He worked it on top of the blueprint disk and exclaimed, "Good thing you didn't have to go up there and look for this, Jewel. The entire lab is a disaster! All I know is that Julius needs to get his metal ass up there and clean up."

"You better watch out, Julius! Your comrade seems to be ordering you around in a condescending manner." said Jewel with a smirk.

"If you're so worried about it, why don't you quit _talking _and start _doing_, Tom?"

He didn't have an answer to Julius's question, and his face twisted into a scowl.

Jewel and her children shared a hearty laugh, and before long, Tom was on his way back up the stairs, mumbling angrily to himself the entire time.

The disks were quite durable for their size, but Jewel didn't want to take any chances. She transferred the two disks to her beak and held them there with decent force.

Julius ambled to the door and swung it open heartily, allowing the Spix's Macaws a way out. They glided from their chairs with Jewel in the lead, but she stopped at the threshold and alighted onto the tile.

"I suppose this is farewell for now. Please let us know how everything goes in a few days. We're counting on you, Jewel. The whole world is counting on you."

_Great. Just what I need. More pressure..._

Jewel did not voice her thoughts out loud, for she knew Julius meant to empower her, not drag her down.

She chased away the negative thoughts and took the disks from her beak so she could speak.

"Whatever happens, good or bad, I will let you know. Rest assured that I will get my mate back home safe. I made a promise to him to do just that, and I will not fail him. Such a mistake is worse than death..."

"Wise words, Jewel. You possess courage beyond measure, and that courage is what will allow you to uphold that promise. Now go on, I don't mean to keep you..."

Jewel replaced the disks and nodded strongly before going into a low-level glide and drifting away from the house, taking silent notice at the wash of soft sunlight all around that meant the sun had crested the horizon. She alighted next to the Jumper and keyed in the coordinates that signified her home.

The Creators came up just a few feet away to watch their departure, waving goodbye as the macaws were obscured by a mesmerizing curtain of light...

Jewel and her offspring flinched under the glare of the Control Room and took a few moments to adjust. The surrounding soldiers – who had been startled by the dramatic entrance – turned their gazes to her expectantly.

She handed the disks to her progeny and said, "Take these to the Meeting Room. Keep the blueprint data in a safe place and download the data on the other. Study it carefully and memorize only the information pertinent to our coming mission. Oh, and tell Nixus and Raxus that we are back, if you see them."

"Okay, Mama." they replied in unison before trotting off towards the nearby hall.

Jewel cleared her mind and began, "I would like to take this time to explain to you all in depth the incident that occurred yesterday night, and where the repercussions of that incident leave us today. After that, I will answer the questions you are so keen to ask..."

Jewel recounted the deceit and the tragedy of yesterday's encounter with Hannibal and Lizzie. She did not leave out a single detail or sugar-coat any of the violence; she wanted to hammer home the depth of their cunning and evil.

Despite the change in the atmosphere as her speech progressed, she did not pause.

She then informed them of her meeting with the Creators and the plan they had devised to steal Blu back from the clutches of the two most sinister Machines on the planet. She concluded her speech by reminding them of the bravery of her soldiers and honoring the ones who had fallen.

Their forces were but half the size of the opposition, and yet they still prevailed. The rage and sense of loss rose from the birds like billows of smoke, but the breeze of victory did a fair job of chasing it away.

Jewel was then casually subjected to a flow of questions, answering them thoughtfully and truthfully.

A general sense of peace settled over the Control Room, and once Jewel confirmed that all of her soldiers' worries had been quieted, she ordered them back to work.

Seeing all of her subordinates milling around, engaged in one task or another, reminded her of a place that she would be wise to visit.

_I need to fly on over to Base 107 and check up on the progress of our Machine! Perhaps I can speed up its completion by bestowing a bit of motivation upon the engineers. They must see that the completion of the wolf is the only thing holding me back from rescuing my dear mate!_

Jewel steeled her will and departed the Control Room via the lengthy trail of Tunnel B3. After stepping onto the grimy sand and taking a moment to savor the warmth of the sun's dawn rays, she leaped into flight and deployed her turbofan.

She cut through the air at well over one hundred and twenty miles an hour, the rain-forest below becoming all but a verdant blur as she traveled west.

She made good time to Base 107, but her descent and landing were a bit awkward and rough due to her excitement.

She jogged towards the polished dome of the factory and barged through the entrance-way in a manner unfit for one of her status. The two door-guards received barely a greeting from their hurried Commander, causing them to stare at each other and blink after she had passed.

Jewel was forced to slow her hurried pace, lest she barrel into one of her subordinates as they moved about.

She walked innocently towards the rear of the dome, but when she arrived at the wolf's construction area, she was awed by what she saw.

The previously disassembled Machine had finally take concrete form, and although it was facing to the west, it was no less menacing.

The four legs were bent at the knees, leaving the wolf in a half-crouch as if preparing to leap at an unseen muzzle was oriented toward the west, the jaws partially separated to show off the rows of polished teeth. A cold nose tipped the muzzle, bearing the exact same graininess across its surface just like the real thing.

"I must say it is quite a feat of engineering. Don't you agree, Commander?"

Jewel whipped around at the sound of the mellow male voice and came face to face with a Scarlet Macaw.

"I agree completely... uh..."

"Jason. My name is Jason."

"Yes, of course. Please forgive me."

"No worries, Commander. I am sure you have many things on your mind."

_You don't know the half of it... _remarked Jewel silently.

"Do you mind telling me what is left to be done before the Machine is combat-ready, Jason?"

"Me and my buddies have to install the weaponry, implant the Core, and then wire everything together. It's three days of work at most."

"Is there any way you can shave that down to two?"

Jason's once-proud grin morphed into a heavily questioning scowl.

"But Commander, you've already asked us to speed up our progress once before! I mean no disrespect, but may I ask why?"

"The truth is, my mate was kidnapped yesterday evening by Hannibal and Lizzie, the sadistic leaders of the Traitors. The Creators and I have drafted a plan to rescue him, but I need this Machine to ensure that our mission is a success. I do not mean to overwork you and your friends, but surely you see my point."

Jason's gaze softened immediately, and he stared back at Jewel with conviction in his eyes.

"Since you put it that way, I don't see how I can refuse. It is no matter, Commander. I will rally my co-workers and redouble our efforts. I may not have a mate yet, but I do know that love is an unbreakable bond. It is the most rewarding experience when that love is reciprocated, but when your life partner is no longer with you, it is like a poison to the soul. It drives you to do anything in your power to get that missing partner back."

"You are certainly wise with your words, Jason. You speak nearly as eloquently as my daughter! I congratulate you on your understanding of the situation."

"You are very welcome, Commander. If our efforts lie in the path of your success, we will work with diligence and duty until the Machine is completed. We will perform a quick test run once our job is done. Would you like to come pick it up then?"

"I will most likely miss the test run, but I will most certainly arrive and take control of it some time during that day."

"Very well, Commander. Are you going to stay and observe us as we work, or are you headed back to headquarters?"

"I must head back, Jason. Due to the circumstances, I must spend my time wisely."

"Of course. Rest easy, Commander. I assure you that this Machine will no doubt make the mission a success."

"Likewise, Jason."

Leader and soldier exchanged a brief salute before parting ways.

Once Jewel returned into the embrace of the Rio morning, she spread her wings and powered herself into the sky with a few impressive flaps. She boosted her velocity to a reasonable eighty miles per hour and set off towards the east.

Now that she had shortened the waiting period to just two days, she felt a wash of surreal elation.

On the other hand, those two days were still going to flow only as fast as the Earth turned, and she couldn't do a thing to change that.

In the wake of that realization, a claw of crushing anxiety wrapped itself around Jewel. The two emotions raged and lashed out at each other like a pair of dueling dragons, leaving Jewel trapped in the middle.

_ I love you so much Blu, and I miss you dearly. You are so close, but yet you are so far! Just try to hold on. I need to see you alive, not dead. I'm coming for you in two day's time, come Hell or high water. Your salvation is steadily approaching..._

Once Jewel arrived back at HQ, she immediately traveled towards the Meeting Room and chatted briefly with her children, informing them of where she had gone and the pact she had formed with Jason. Nixus and Raxus were not with them, and Jewel assumed they were somewhere else in the Base, taking care of business as usual.

Jewel's progeny had been studying the information on the disk ever since she had departed, and she casually joined them in their efforts. The wealth of data was staggering, and picking out only the most vital knowledge was a time-consuming task.

Jewel had whiled away the hours in the Meeting Room, and she reluctantly decided to go to her quarters for a well-deserved sleep.

Josefina graciously accompanied her and engaged in a melancholy chat with her mother.

Jewel was dragged into a deep despair due to the fact that Blu was not by her side.

For as long as she could remember, she had never slept once without her mate, and now there was an empty spot right next to her. Her mother fell into a state of shivering borne not from cold, but from fear.

Josefina did her best to comfort her mother, but Jewel asked her to remove her Core and let her sleep. Jewel told her that she was not to be awakened until two days hence.

Mother and daughter whispered farewell to each other before Josefina extracted Jewel's Core and placed it on the ground next to her left wing. The room was wonderfully illuminated by the sky blue shine from the Core, casting Jewel's stone-still shadow on the walls and ceiling, an unmoving tribute to a depressed soul...

The days passed like whispers to Jewel while in her catatonic state, and just as she had ordered, she was awakened on the dawn two days after her rest had begun.

Once her senses had been restored, she scanned her surroundings and saw the smiling form of Raxus coiled before her.

She bid him good morning and asked if any major news had come up while she was resting. He informed her that Base 107 had sent them a transmission in the early morning hours announcing the completion of the wolf and the smashing success of the test run.

The Machine was ready to be introduced and placed under Jewel's command whenever she was ready.

On another positive note, not a single hostile party was reported in the area for the entire two days.

Bolstered by this ethereal news, Jewel told Raxus that she was departing to Base 107 without delay and for him to let her offspring know where she was going. She apologized for her haste, but Raxus took no offense.

The elevator ride and tunnel walk seemed to last forever, and no sooner had Jewel alighted on the beach did she spring into flight and zoom off towards the west.

She managed a second rough landing and sprinted towards the base after recovering, but upon skidding to a stop on the inside, she noticed something was very odd: The interior was completely devoid of sound or presence.

Tools lay strewn about the floor and scattered over workbenches as if the entire population of the Base had vanished without a trace.

_Where the hell did they all go? Surely they didn't take the wolf to HQ while I flew over here. Maybe I missed them. But why would they disobey my direct order? I'm going to get to the bottom of this..._

Jewel re-emerged from the factory and strained to hear any signs of life. When she realized there were none, she shouted, "I want all of you to show yourselves this instant! If you think this is a joke, you're sorely mistaken..."

Jewel's command faded into the still air of dawn and went unanswered. As a last ditch effort, she drew out her Short-Range Laser and pointed it straight up at the sky, firing a four-second beam into a cloud scooting by far above.

"All of you are in so much trouble when I-"

Jewel's declaration was cut short as a wave of sensation rippled from the ground into her feet and swaddled her body. The rhythm grew stronger and stronger, but maintained the same uneasy pace.

The soft ripples then morphed into powerful thuds, and as Jewel looked down, she saw a few scattered pebbles bouncing up and down in time with the thuds.

From not too far ahead, she heard the cries of startled birds and a loud crashing noise akin to trees being snapped.

_What the hell is going on? Is it the end of the world?_

Moments later, Jewel leaped back to avoid getting hit by a falling cannonball tree, and what she saw when the branches settled was nothing short of amazing.

The polished form of the wolf stood not fifteen feet in front of her, its head nearly scraping the canopy. Its menacing glare was augmented by two neon green eyes, its muzzle pulled back in a snarl.

Jewel then watched as a sizable throng of birds melted from the trampled jungle behind the wolf and clustered around its pillar-like legs.

The entire crowd froze except for one.

Jason marched up to Jewel with an air of pride that belied his size and exclaimed, "Here it is, Commander. The culmination of our dedication and labor. It is fully combat ready and is eager to meet its leader. Come..."

Jason took hold of her right wing with his left and led her forward. Jewel was both awed and terrified of the towering construct before her, although she had no reason to feel the latter emotion.

Jason led her ever closer to the wolf, and he bowed low to the ground as they approached. His muzzle contacted the ground just one foot in front of them, and Jewel smiled widely with pride at his humility.

"Greetings, Commander. I am glad to offer you my service in war as well as in peace. I hope to one day prove my worth to you."

Its even and somewhat-deep voice signified that its Scion was of male origin.

"I am glad to have you join my ranks just the same. I assure you that your worth will be proved very soon, for there is a dangerous mission you and I will embark on this evening."

"I look forward to that mission, Commander. Now, as yet, I do not have a name. Is it in your interest to bestow one upon me?"

_Why not? If he is going to become one of my closest allies, he needs a fitting title. Let me see..._

Jewel dug deep into the massive amount of memory buried within her Scion, as evidenced by her drooping head and steadily tapping foot. She scoured through hundreds of thousands of names, and although a few caught her attention, one particular name stood out above all others.

She straightened her pose and stared deep into his fluorescent eyes.

"From this day on, you shall be known as Lucian. Would you rather have me pick another?"

"No, Commander. That name is one I shall accept with honor."

"As you wish."

"Isn't he just amazing?"

"Agreed, Jason. Your work is most exquisite. I give you my most heartfelt thanks and a fair amount of pride to go along with it."

"Ah, but I can't take all the credit. You were the one who instructed us to build him in the first place. He was but a sheet of paper covered in lines and numbers. Through us, you made him so much more than that. Through us, you made him _real..._"

"You are right. In every society, there are the thinkers, and then there are the doers. In this case, I happen to fall into the former category."

"And there is nothing wrong with that..."

Jewel flashed him a gracious smile before declaring, "This magnificent Machine is a testament to all our wills and desires to achieve greatness. All of you have earned the day off, and I invite you to come back to HQ with me. Meet with your families and talk with your friends, since I know your duty has kept you away from them for so long. But first, fly ahead and warn the Base of our arrival. Gather everyone on the beach!"

The multitude of birds leaped into the air and shattered the silence with the whine of over one hundred turbofan engines. A gust wind was whipped up in the wake of their departure, but by the time it had faded, the keening of their engines was all but audible.

"Come, Lucian. We are going back to HQ now. Tonight's mission still needs to be planned and my children prepared. Depending on how fast you can run, our trip could take up to an hour."

"Would you like me to show you?"

"By all means, Lucian."

"Hop on..."

Jewel clambered up his left front leg and positioned herself just behind his great neck. He rose back up to his normal height, leaving Jewel close enough to touch the canopy with her outstretched wing.

"Hold on tight, Commander. I wouldn't want you to fall..."

He leaned back on his rear legs and sprung into the air. The canopy whizzed by her, and for a few seconds, Jewel was suspended in the glorious sky of a Rio morning.

Time seemed to slow for Jewel, and she was able to see a full three hundred and sixty degrees around her.

The rusty-red orb of the sun was hanging low in the east, but that was not the strangest sight the remodeled Solar System had to offer. The maroon sphere of Mars loomed eerily close in the north, appearing as if it was on a collision course with its parent planet.

All too suddenly, the canopy rushed back up and cut off Jewel's wondrous vantage point.

Lucian dropped back to the ground with terrifying force, his massive joints absorbing most of the force. Jewel was rattled uncomfortably by the impact, but still managed to keep her grip.

"Are you okay, Commander?"

His voice carried a teasing lilt.

"I've been better. Just try not to do that again..."

"As you wish..."

Lucian careened through the jungle at a respectable sixty miles an hour, but the wolf's well-built joints nullified all but the strongest bumps and shakes. Jewel felt like she was riding on an earthbound cloud buffeted only by the occasional breeze.

She was bursting with relief and a sense of closure, for today would be the day where she would tear Blu away from the clutches of evil and into the safety of family and friends...

Jewel was too preoccupied by watching the jungle speed by to notice how close they were drawing to Rio. Only the termination of the verdant treeline and the glint of the sunlight off of the metal dome alerted her that they had arrived at their destination.

However, when she walked forward and perched herself on the crown of Lucian's head, she was once again bothered by the lack of presence that she had expected to find.

"How hard is it to follow a simple order? Have I raised an army of honorable soldiers or an army of incompetent robots?"

"Calm down, Commander. Look at who's up ahead!"

She followed his line of sight, instantly recognizing the forms of her progeny just outside the entrance to the tunnel. She dropped from his head and landed roughly onto the slimy sand. She rushed up to her children and saw that their expressions were torn between paralyzing shock and lethal fear.

"What is it, my dears? Has something happened? Please tell me!"

"I... think it's better that we show you. Come..." replied Esperanza meekly.

The macaws filed into the tunnel one by one, leaving bird and wolf out on the beach alone.

"You stay here and relax. I fear something dreadful has occurred."

"As you wish, Commander."

The wolf pointed his nose towards the north and obediently laid down on the sand like an oversized dog.

Jewel turned away and hopped into the tunnel, breaking into a soft jog to catch up with her children. She then slowed her pace, trailing behind Stefano's quivering form as they followed the tunnel.

Jewel was not blinded by the light she had expected to assault her upon entering the Control Room.

As the seven macaws forced a path through the multitude of birds ahead of her, she looked to her left and spied the faint outline of a giant holographic screen floating in front of the wall like an electronic ghost.

Judging by the silence, the disturbed crowd was in no mood to speak.

Stefano pulled her forward and held her tightly after stopping at a reasonable distance from the featureless screen. Nixus and Raxus were at the controls, their gazes locked on the floating keys expectantly.

Ricardo said, "Replay the transmission, you two."

The pair of snakes punched the keys carefully before looking up at the screen a bit too slowly. The screen was filled with black-and-white static and oblique, jerky bars before a clear picture formed.

A Military Macaw was standing before the camera, looking anything but calm. The rustic tint of the walls and carpet, plus the sturdy desk just visible in the corner of the screen, signified some sort of office space.

" I suggest you prepare yourself, mother." said Stefano as he squeezed her tighter.

The foreign Military Macaw threw a quick glance over his shoulder before turning back towards the camera and speaking in a clipped voice: "If you can hear me, listen closely. I don't have long to talk. My name is Daniel, and I used to be second in command to Hannibal and Lizzie. Due to prior and current circumstances, I have chosen to betray them and save the life of this macaw..."

Daniel walked away from the eye of the camera for a few moments, with much groaning and shuffling occurring off-screen. When he returned, Jewel nearly collapsed from the shock of not what she saw, but _who _she saw.

The battered form of her mate was leaning heavily against Daniel's shoulder, looking like he had been trampled by iron bulls.

"This macaw was captured two nights ago by my former leaders, and I am going to do my best to return him to his home. Pay utmost attention to what I am about to say. Hannibal and Lizzie are going to send a fearsome Machine in the shape of a tarantula to Rio in less than fifteen minutes. Blu and I are going to stall Hannibal and Lizzie before they can Jump with the spider, which is what we are going to do. We're going to land at a point two miles north of Rio. Bring all of the soldiers you can muster, because that Machine is going to be very difficult to destroy. I know its weakness, but without enough firepower, it will slaughter us all. The Jumper will have to be called back before Hannibal and Lizzie can come after us. If at all possible, neither of them must escape. Either capture them or kill them, it does not matter. Now, I think Blu here has a few words to say."

Daniel shifted Blu's dead weight before the Spix's Macaw spoke.

"Jewel... you have to trust him. This is our... only shot. They haven't forced... the Key out of me yet..."

"Fifteen minutes. Two miles north of Rio. Bring everyone you've got. Do not delay..."

The transmission ceased, turning the once-vibrant display into a hovering black sheet. The large screen separated back into an array of smaller screens that then glowed to life with the standard radar displays and camera feeds.

Jewel was nearly overcome by a supernova of emotions, but she managed to keep her grip on reality. Just like Blu said, they only had one shot, and Jewel was not going to miss it for the world.

"You heard the Military Macaw. We need to move out! All of you who possess weapons need to head out to the beach. The rest are to stay behind and remain in this room until we return. Understood?"

The throng of birds replied, "Yes, Commander!" before the soldiers split off and filed into Tunnel B3. They formed themselves into a single-file line to avoid a time-wasting bottleneck.

"What are we going to do, Mama?" queried Stefano.

"You and your brothers and sisters are coming with me. Nixus and Raxus are going to stay behind and keep tabs on the battle."

"Yes, Commander." replied the two snakes in unison.

The soldiers fled the room at a decent pace, and within five minutes, Jewel and her progeny were able to exit the Base and step out onto the beach.

The soldiers were frozen with awe and fear at the sight of Lucian, but Jewel would soon assuage their emotions.

She made her way back up Lucian's leg and clamped herself down behind his neck.

"Rise, Lucian. I have a short speech to give you and the troops."

While he straightened his legs and rose to his full height, he said, "I can sense your distress, Commander. What is wrong?"

"The time has come for you to prove yourself. A momentous and dangerous battle awaits us."

The wolf trembled with dark anticipation beneath her. She inched forward and planted herself on the crown of his head to better address her troops.

"As you all know by now, we are but minutes away from confronting a most lethal enemy. He is capable of great destruction and unending slaughter, but Lucian will be more than a match for him. However, you will only engage the enemy when called upon to do so, and until then you will remain in hiding at a safe distance from the battlefield. My children will serve as relay posts for my commands, and their word is as powerful as mine. This is a dark time in our history and a major turning point in the war, but do not let apprehension or fear take hold. Fill your Scions with courage, for courage is what makes ordinary soldiers heroes. Courage is what allows you to walk into the battlefield and eventually walk out. The tarantula will be destroyed, and Hannibal and Lizzie will not return to their headquarters. That is all."

Jewel walked back to her former spot and said, "Let's move, Lucian. Our destination lies two miles to the north." "As you wish, Commander..."

The wolf pointed his nose to the north and broke into a steady trot, the sizable armada of birds trailing behind and out of reach of his crushing rear paws.

The dragon of elation inside Jewel defeated the dragon of anxiety, but the latter was replaced by a dragon of foreboding.

_What if Lucian is defeated? What if Hannibal and Lizzie escape and warn the rest of their soldiers? There are so many things that can go wrong. All I can do is pray, and the rest is up to Lucian. Even though my promise may not be fulfilled how I wanted it to, I will still make sure that you are back in my wings, Blu..._

The two mile walk lasted only five minutes at Lucian's ceaseless pace, and upon reaching their destination, they noted it was just another monotonous patch of jungle.

Jewel had dropped the soldiers off behind a wall of foliage fifty feet behind her, but her children were told to stay beside her and warn the others if something went awry.

The wait for Daniel and Blu's arrival was agonizing, and Jewel resorted to passing the time by back-and-forth pacing.

Eventually, a sudden crackling noise and a wash of white light from up ahead caught both her and Lucian's attention. Jewel – who had remained on top of Lucian for the entire trip – pointed with her wing towards the source of the disturbance and said, "That's probably them, but we still need to make sure. Stay here and do not move, my dears."

Lucian crept towards the location as per Jewel's order, brushing by the foliage with ease. He came to a stop in front of a grove filled with berry bushes, and Jewel asked, "Daniel? Blu? Is that you? This is Jewel. I'm over here!"

The plants rustled at the far end of the grove, and two macaws limped out.

"Whoa! I guess we found who we were looking for. Come on, help us up. Blu is having a hard time staying conscious..."

The wolf leaned down and rested his muzzle on the ground, leaving Jewel close enough to haul the two macaws up onto his back.

"Take us back to my children, Lucian. Blu needs to get seen about really soon!"

"Jewel... is that you?"

Blu struggled to lift a wing and touch his mate's face, but she gently pushed it back down.

"Yes, it is me. Save your strength, Blu. You'll be taken care of in just a few minutes."

Lucian flew back to Jewel's offspring with one calculated leap and lowered himself to the ground quickly. Daniel lowered Blu into the waiting wings of Ricardo, stunning the six macaws as they laid eyes upon his terrible state.

"Ricardo, have Esperanza and Vicente help you carry your father back to HQ. Go!"

The three macaws gripped his body in as many places as possible and hauled him into the air.

Jewel watched as the four figures receded and disappeared before turning back to Daniel.

"Where is the spider and what is its weakness?"

"I managed to trick it into running off to the north. It should be back in about three minutes once it realizes its going the wrong way. To answer your second question, its the legs. Take them out, and the spider will be nothing more than a turtle stuck upside down. Once it is immobile, you can finish it off. Just the same, the wolf has to watch out for those legs, because they are razor-sharp and have the ability to impale."

"What weapons does it have?"

"Six fifty-caliber machine guns on its abdomen and one eight-inch cannon on its abdomen as well."

"Did you catch all of that, Lucian?"

A sound akin to the mechanisms of a clockwork device resounded from within his body as he deployed his shoulder-mounted rocket launchers and pair of six-inch guns on his back.

"Perfectly, Commander."

"Now all we do is wait..." said Daniel flatly.

Lucky for them, they didn't have to wait long.

The ground began to pulsate with a soft yet frantic rhythm, and the faint sounds of foliage being shredded began to echo from the distant jungle in front of them. The sounds of terrified bird squawks joined the steadily-increasing chorus, and the pebbles on the ground began to hop about like dying rabbits.

Jewel and Daniel jumped from Lucian's back and glared up at him for a few final seconds. The crashing and rumbling grew to impressive levels, and Jewel shouted, "Go kick his eight-legged ass!"

Lucian trotted forward and flattened the jungle in his path, leaving a clear line of sight for Jewel and Daniel.

True to form, the monstrous body of a tarantula exploded from the jungle ahead and skidded to a stop upon seeing Lucian. The two macaws inched slightly closer to the arena as the two Machines stared each other down.

"My name is Rakdos. Are you prepared to meet your doom, as ordered by my leaders?"

Given the fact that he was borne from the twisted minds of Hannibal and Lizzie, his voice was just as Jewel had expected it to sound: deep and guttural, but strangely clear.

"My name is Lucian, and I should ask you the same thing!"

Lucian snapped at one of the spider's legs, but he was remarkably nimble for his size and dodged the attack.

Rakdos brought his six heavy machine guns to life, filling the air with a deafening noise that caused Jewel and Daniel to flinch. The wave of orange sparks that flowed across Lucian's left flank, along with countless pinging sounds, signified that the bullet storm was hitting its mark.

Lucian fired both of his six-inch guns in Rakdos's direction, but the stinging of the bullet storm jarred his focus.

"Nice shot! Too bad you missed. Now it's my turn..."

Rakdos ceased his machine gun fire and let loose a round from his own cannon.

Lucian's mass slowed his attempt at dodging, and the round landed a generous blow to his left flank. The wolf was thrown onto his right side with a loud crash, leaving him open for a follow-up attack. Rakdos reared up into the air and brought his two front legs and fangs towards Lucian's head for a treacherous stab.

Sensing the danger, the wolf rolled over onto his back and thrust his forepaws up, meeting the spider's two front legs in a conflict of strength. Lucian's joints groaned as Rakdos pressed down on him, but the wolf saw a chance to take out one of his enemy's legs.

He parted his jaws and fired out a neon-orange laser beam. The leg that was pinned against Lucian's left paw lay right in its path, and halfway along its length, the leg bubbled and burned away in seconds.

The sudden shift of weight caused Rakdos to topple over and allowed Lucian a chance to get back up.

"One down, seven to go."

Rakdos steadied himself and shouted, "This battle isn't over!"

The spider dug his legs into the ground to absorb the recoil and fired off another shot from his massive cannon.

Lucian sensed his movements and dodged the shell just in time before firing a volley of rockets from his shoulders in return.

They whistled through the air and peppered the spider's abdomen with explosions, blowing off three machine guns and taking out the last leg on Rakdos's right side.

As the mangled rod of metal fell to the ground, Lucian exclaimed, "That makes two!"

The spider charged at the wolf, causing Lucian to lower his head and lunge forward. The impact was stunning, causing Lucian to slide back a good fifteen feet while tossing his enemy onto his back in the opposite direction.

Lucian then sprang forward and brought his full weight down on the spider before he could recover. The wolf grabbed a hold of the second and third legs on Rakdos's right side and tore them from their sockets with a mighty pull.

He spat out the mangled legs and said, "Half of your legs are gone. I think you're on the losing end, you sick creature!"

"Get off of me!"

Rakdos curled his legs up and extended them rapidly, driving their tips deep into the soft armor of Lucian's stomach.

The spider then leaned over and used the pull of gravity to give him momentum. Right before Lucian met the ground, the spider kicked his legs out and tossed the wolf across the artificial clearing made by the battle.

The combination of the pain from his impalement and his impact with the ground left Lucian in a daze.

The spider stood back up and repositioned his legs to maintain his balance.

Jewel and Daniel were forced to move backwards to avoid getting flattened by Lucian. When the wolf did not get up, Jewel grew frantic.

"Don't give up now, Lucian! He only has four legs left. Now's your chance to finish him off!"

He struggled to rise, only to fall back to the ground.

"Did that hurt? No? Let me help you with that..."

Rakdos aimed his cannon carefully and fired. The massive round struck its target full on, right at Lucian's left rear hip joint. The concussive blow spun the wolf around and dislocated the leg entirely, sending the pillar of metal bouncing a few feet away.

Rakdos crept closer and prepared to pounce upon his prey like a lion upon a zebra.

"He's coming, Lucian! Don't let him beat you now! You have to win..."

Jewel's motivational and desperate words kicked Lucian into overdrive. He jumped to his remaining feet and fired off another searing laser blast. The remaining three legs on Rakdos's right side were burned away in the middle and the spider toppled over onto the ground immediately after.

A look of terror filled his beady crimson eyes, and his remaining leg flailed about wildly.

"Damn you! Damn you to hell!"

The wolf limped up to Rakdos's shaking form and replied, "I think that is what I am going to do to you!"

He wrenched the spider's last leg from its socket with his jaws and then flipped the spider over with a vicious kick from his hind legs.

Rakdos's thorax and abdomen now lay exposed, and all Lucian had to do was find the Core and destroy it.

"Where is your Core? Is it here?"

Lucian lifted his left fore-paw into the air and raked it across the underside of the thorax. The wolf's one-foot claws ripped a gaping hole in the metal, but the Core was not there.

Rakdos's bulky fangs tried to bite into Lucian's front legs, but he was unable to maneuver and his efforts were futile.

"If it isn't there, then it must be here!"

Lucian tore open the abdomen with another vicious swipe, and a wash of crimson light confirmed the Core's presence.

"You are finished, beast! You fought, and you lost. I banish you to Hell in the name of my Commanders!"

Lucian's maw opened wide and brought forth a brilliant orange laser that burned away the mass of metal beneath it. The Core was cracked open from the heat, causing it to explode violently and scatter massive chunks of metal in all directions.

Lucian took the brunt of the blast but suffered no real damage.

Jewel and Daniel strode up to the wolf with a mix of endless pride and true worry.

"Are you injured badly, Lucian?"

"I've been better, but my leg can hopefully be reattached with a few hours of work. I am profoundly relieved that the beast is no more."

"You have exceeded my wildest expectations, Lucian. You have proven your worth many times over."

"Thank you, Commander. Now we must wait for Hannibal and Lizzie to appear and fall right into our clutches."

"If the chance presents itself, capture them. If not, kill them."

"Very well, Commander."

Just then, a soft thud was heard, and when Daniel looked down, he saw a smoking sphere of metal sitting next to him.

"Hey, check it out! I bet this is the Scion of that vile monster. What should I do with it, Jewel?"

"Give it to me. I will keep it as a token of our victory. Never again will this be used to power a Machine of evil."

Just as he tossed it to Jewel, a familiar crackling sound and a flash of light signaled that someone had just exited from a Jump. Two Lear's Macaws dropped from the air not thirty feet away, the Jumper materializing just behind them.

Jewel shouted, "Your fiendish Machine is no more! We are triumphant. Surrender to us or you will be slaughtered!"

Hannibal and Lizzie did not reply, and the male frantically began punching the keys on the Jumper in an effort to escape.

"They're trying to Jump back to Amarillo. Stop them, Lucian!"

The wolf heeded Daniel's shout and sent a neon-orange beam of energy in their direction.

Lizzie cried, "Move, Hannibal!" before jumping out of the path of the laser just in time.

The male macaw only managed to turn around before being bathed in the concentrated beam of energy. Everything above his wings was vaporized, causing his smoking, headless body to fall to the ground.

The Jumper had been dissected by the blast, and the upper five feet of its height careened over and slammed Lizzie to the ground under its weight.

Jewel and Daniel trudged over to their immobilized enemy and scoffed at her misfortune.

"You... traitorous bastard! I should kill you!"

"Actually, I think it would be more fitting if _I _ killed _you_! But no, that would be too easy..."

Lizzie's head received a powerful kick from Daniel's foot, but the impact barely made her flinch.

"You're pathetic! You wouldn't last three seconds against me."

"Are you going to surrender now, you worthless slut?"

"Not on your life! I'd rather die knowing that I tortured your mate for hours on end. Oh, to hear him scream and watch him writhe gave me so much pleasure!"

"You're the one who did that to Blu?"

Jewel squeezed her talons around Lizzie's neck and pulled her out from under the wreckage before slamming her down on the ground. While she was still stunned, Jewel tore her back open with two deadly swipes from her right foot.

Jewel shivered with delight upon hearing her agonized scream, but she did not relent. She reached that same foot into the gash on Lizzie's back and began tearing out her weapons, one by one.

Once Lizzie was completely mined of her armaments, Jewel seized her around the neck and crushed her head against the side of the Jumper.

"Are you going to surrender _now_?"

"Yes! Just please stop tearing my insides out! I have... nothing left to fight for. I have no one... left to fight for..."

Jewel released her grip on the Lear's Macaw, and Lizzie slumped against the Jumper in a sitting position.

"So, you finally cracked. If you can deal it out, you better be able to take it! Since you surrendered, I won't kill you, but I will do this!"

Jewel thrust her foot deep into Lizzie's chest, wrapping her talons around the female's Scion.

"No! I surrendered! Please don't take it out..."

"You're not going to stop me. You have no place among the world of the living. You are the conduit through which evil flows unrestricted, and after I tear your Scion out, that flow will be severed. Accept your defeat with what little honor you have..."

Jewel jerked her foot back, wrenching the Scion from its supports and tearing the multitude of wires that were connected to it. Lizzie's body froze in her slumped position, her Scion unable to control her anymore.

The Spix's Macaw then blasted a hole in Lizzie's head with her Assault Rifle, destroying the Core and causing her once-crimson eyes to fade into darkness. Hannibal's Scion was extracted by Jewel as well.

She then beckoned Daniel to follow her before crossing the clearing towards Lucian, rolling the Scions along with her feet like marbles. She paused to collect Rakdos's Scion – which she had dropped when Hannibal and Lizzie showed up – and continued on in Lucian's direction.

He tilted his head down towards the pair of birds and said, "They may be finished, but their army still remains. The war has not yet reached its conclusion, Commander."

"You are correct. But believe me, once we construct the ship based off of Creators' blueprints, the rest of our enemies will perish under its might, and the army will fall. The war has entered its terminal phase, of that I am sure."

"Agreed, Commander. I think we should be leaving now. Your soldiers must be terribly worried due to your absence. They do not know which side has won the battle. On top of that, I am sure your mate is very eager to see you, despite his grievous state."

"You have a quick mind, Lucian! I may need to keep my eyes on you..."

Her tone was laced with playful sarcasm.

Lucian trotted away to collect his severed leg, clutching it in his jaws like a futuristic bone. He returned to the two birds and leaned down so they could climb on top of him.

Jewel tossed one Scion to Daniel, who then cradled it in his beak with a certain caution. Jewel clamped another Scion in her beak as well and gripped the third with her foot.

Once the macaws had positioned themselves between Lucian's shoulders, he rose steadily and began limping away to the south.

_We've done it. The two Machines responsible for countless deaths and decades of despair have finally atoned for their mistakes. These three Scions will be hidden away in my quarters as tokens of war. They are the physical mementos of unbounded evil, yet without a Shell for them to reside in, they are nothing. Perhaps our scientists will be able to alter the basic programming inside their Scions. Perhaps their twisted personalities can be converted into personalities more honest and noble..._

Once Lucian came upon the still-hidden soldiers, Jewel was assaulted by shouts of worry and joy from her subordinates. She thanked them for their concern and gave them a quick recap of the previous events – after transferring the Scion in her beak to her foot.

They were slightly disheartened by the fact that they did not get to join the fight, but they were ever thankful that it came to such a glorious end.

Jewel rounded up the soldiers and beckoned them to follow in Lucian's wake.

She was soothed by the loping gait of Lucian due to his injury, and a true feeling of closure swamped her completely.

Hannibal and Lizzie were silenced for the time being. Blu was just minutes away from being back in Jewel's wings. The Creators had given her the means to end the war in just a few short months.

Everything was going more perfectly than Jewel had ever imagined it would.

Eventually, the world would be rid of the scourge known as the Traitors. Blu, Jewel, and their subordinates would soon be the designers of their own happily ever after.

* * *

><p>Above the street that ran in front of Chase Tower, the air was sliced by a fortuitous bolt of lightning. When the crackling sounds and outpourings of light faded away, three macaws plus the Jumper that recently transported them came into focus.<p>

With an obvious air of triumph, the male Lear's Macaw led his captor towards the entrance of the building, passing under the faded brick supporting arches. Blu's injury – inflicted by Hannibal in response to Jewel's attack on Lizzie – hampered his walking ability significantly.

He hobbled along awkwardly, and Hannibal's constant jerking on his wing caused him to nearly trip several times.

"Your clumsy walking is really starting to annoy me. Am I going to have to drag your sorry ass everywhere I go?"

Blu swelled with anger and replied, "You're the one who did this to me in the first place! It's _your _fault, not mine!"

"Actually, It's your _precious mate's_ fault. She attacked my mate, so I attacked you! It's that simple."

His words were filled with pride due his chain of logic, leaving Blu unable to reply.

"I could have your wiring fixed, but I am not known for showing mercy. I could also amputate your feet, but then you wouldn't be able to get around at all. It seems I am at an impassé..."

_Let's hope you'll stay that way... _thought Blu smugly.

They waited for Lizzie to reach them, for she had been hampered just like Blu, although less severely. Once she had loped up beside her mate, Hannibal jerked Blu forward once more and pulled him into the dank lobby of Chase Tower.

Directly in front of them lay the sealed doors of an elevator, the shiny metal they were composed of gleaming under the dim yellow lights of the lobby. Hannibal resumed his impatient pace, with Blu still struggling to keep up.

Genuine fear crept into Blu's mind as the doors grew closer and closer.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll find out soon enough. And trust me, your stay here will be most unpleasant..."

His voice was filled with dark foreboding, only increasing the tension that was writhing around inside the Spix's Macaw.

"Shall we meet with Daniel and decide on how to restrain our prisoner before you give your speech?" asked Lizzie curiously.

"That is exactly my plan, dear. We need to make sure he is unable to flee or fight back, though I don't see how he could possibly escape our grasp, let alone make it all the way back to Rio. It is more of a symbolic restraint than a literal one."

"Indeed it is, Hannibal. Now that we have the perfect means to end the war, we will make sure Blu remains here until the day when he witnesses the destruction of everything he loves!"

Hannibal and Lizzie shared a diabolical laugh as the three macaws slid into the elevator. Blu hung his head in sadness with the knowledge that everyone he knew was going to be slaughtered.

As the silver doors sealed his vision off and the elevator lurched into motion, he thought, _Please hurry, Jewel. If you can hear me, you must come for me as soon as possible. Everything we've fought for will cease to exist in a matter of weeks! I have no idea when they plan to wrench away the secret knowledge I hold, but it will not be long. I miss you, Jewel, and I'll love you until the very end..._

The elevator the macaws were encapsulated in slowly ascended up its shaft, and although Blu didn't know where they were stopping, he didn't have to wait long for an answer.

The pair of sliver doors slid open silently, and Blu was pulled out of the elevator by a powerful yank from Hannibal. After regaining his balance, he took in his surroundings and realized he was in an office-like space.

Several lights were embedded in the ceiling, casting a soft yellow wash of photons throughout the room. The wooden walls were a rich maroon and harbored evenly spaced windows on all sides, save for the one behind Blu.

A desk made of dark cherry wood sat a few feet away, taking up a significant amount of space. Scattered on top of it were a myriad of paper sheets and blueprints.

The floor was cloaked in soft gray carpet, but Blu's talons could detect that it was covering up a floor made of yet more wood.

To Blu's right, half of the wall had been replaced by a wide brick column, which Blu judged was an extension of the large brick foundation the tower rested on.

To his left, at the far side of the room, stood a Military Macaw, his gaze full of pride, presumably at Hannibal and Lizzie's accomplishment. As Blu stared deeper into his eyes, he noticed something else: a flicker of deceit that lasted but a mere sliver of a second.

"Come on, prisoner, there is someone we want you to meet." said Lizzie with twisted enthusiasm.

Lizzie walked behind her mate and struck Blu's back with a solid blow from her wing. A loud thud resounded, and he lurched forward as a result, nearly tripping as his feet fumbled for balance.

"If you hit me one more time and make me trip, I swear I'm going to-"

"You're going to what, lousy Machine? I'd like to see you try! Now move!"

Blu ambled steadily toward the Military Macaw as fast as he could, but once he was a few feet away, his left foot caught on his right, causing him to genuinely trip and fall to the floor. He hastily picked himself back up, but as soon as he was standing, an even more forceful blow pounded his back, sending him into a somersault.

He landed heavily against the carpet, and the thud of his heavy body resonated throughout the room.

"Idiot! You walk like a drugged child, all because of your filthy mate. That's what you get. Now stand up!"

Blu's mind was trembling with anger and sadness, which was reflected on the outside by his shaking form. He rose to his feet and met the Military Macaw's gaze just as Lizzie came up beside him, followed by Hannibal moments later.

"This is Daniel, our most trusted and efficient subordinate. He is basically our second in command, and he will do anything Hannibal or I tells him to. Isn't that right?"

"Yes Ma'am." replied Daniel stoically.

"Daniel, this is the mate of Jewel and one of the Precursors. His name is Blu, but you will address him as prisoner, understood?"

"Yes Ma'am. I see that your capture operation was a success."

"Oh, it was more than a success," replied Lizzie as she smiled fiendishly before continuing, "It was a momentous victory! We did not stick around to see our prisoner's fellow soldiers slaughtered, but I am sure it was very violent! With one of their leaders dead and the other captured, they will have no chance of stealing the prisoner back. Oh, how lovely the feeling of utter victory is!"

"I agree completely, Ma'am. What are we going to do with the prisoner?"

"That is where you come in, Daniel." declared Hannibal. "Bring us a wire of suitable length to bind his wings, along with a means for you to attach it securely so that he isn't able to break free."

Daniel lifted his right wing in salute and scurried from the room.

Hannibal and Lizzie closed in on the shaking Spix's Macaw, causing him to sink lower to the floor.

"Yes, you are right to cower before us. You were once so fearless and brave, but now you're nothing more than a pile of worthless metal! Hannibal and I are going to have a lot of fun with you before we extract the secret you have tried so hard to keep hidden from us!"

"Are you suggesting torture, my dear?"

"Exactly, Hannibal."

Lizzie turned and brought her face to within inches of Blu's.

"Whenever my mate and I have some free time, we will plunge you into an abyss of pain so intense you will divulge the secret just to make it stop. You have only so much time to make your choice, because it is up to you how long the agony will last."

_ Do I give up the Duplication Key and save myself from suffering, or do I keep my beak shut and buy Jewel and the others time? No, I'll do anything to keep them from winning this war. Whatever pain I must bear in order to stall their progress, I shall bear with dignity. I may be down, but I am most certainly not out! Hear me, Hannibal and Lizzie, I would rather Terminate myself than give you what you want..._

Once Blu's thought train concluded, he sank down onto his feet and did his best to prepare him for the inevitable.

In less than five minutes, the sound of metal scraping through carpet fibers caught his attention. When he looked up, he saw Daniel striding dutifully towards Hannibal and Lizzie.

Several loops of sturdy black wire were clenched in his beak, swinging about as he walked. Blu observed that the wire was braided for extra strength, but that was not the most disconcerting feature.

A large two-pronged hook dangled from each end of the wire, their barbed tips flashing in the mellow light raining down from the ceiling.

_What are those deadly hooks for? Are they going to use them to... oh no..._

Blu shuddered as Daniel came to a stop right in front of his superiors, his crimson eyes flashing with accomplishment.

"Well done, Daniel!" exclaimed Hannibal as he eyed the black length of wire. "This should be most efficient in tying the prisoner's wings and rendering them useless."

"Thank you, Sir." replied Daniel smoothly.

"Bind them tight, Daniel, and make sure that hook is embedded nicely."

"Right away, Ma'am."

Lizzie scooted back to make room for Daniel, and as he passed by Blu's left side, he threw him a glance that seemed to say: "I'm so sorry for this..."

Blu was utterly confused by Daniel's silent plea. Was the Military Macaw hiding something? He couldn't know for sure, and right now he placed not an ounce of trust in him.

Daniel planted himself behind Blu and dropped the wire to the floor. He grabbed one end just below the hook and placed it against the base of Blu's neck.

"It won't hurt at all, prisoner..." chided Hannibal with deep sarcasm.

Daniel yanked the hook downwards, forcing the barbed tips to pierce through Blu's metal skin before locking into place. A searing pain radiated from his neck and swamped his whole body, causing him to collapse to the floor.

"It burns! It burns!"

"Ah, so that's how it feels! Well, better you than I suffer the burn of being restrained, prisoner. Now get back on your feet so Daniel can work!"

As the pain subsided, Blu struggled back to a standing position, silently cursing his oppressor for all he was worth.

Daniel began to walk circles around Blu, winding the wire around his wings, across his chest, and over his back, agina and again. Blu's wings were compressed tighter and tighter against him, and it took Daniel nine revolutions to exhaust the wire's length.

"Secure the remaining hook, Daniel. But first..."

Lizzie drew close to Blu and punched him in the chest with a curled up foot. Blu fell onto his back and slid a good five feet backwards.

Daniel approached Blu and lifted the second hook into the air before bringing it down rapidly. It buried itself at the base of Blu's throat, the pull of the now-tightened wire now evident due to the angle of the hook.

Blu gritted his beak until the pain subsided, his inability to cry filling him with the crushing anxiety of his unattainable release.

"Now that your restraint is complete, we can tend to the business that has most likely developed in our absence. Come, prisoner, you are invited to join us!"

Hannibal made his way over to Blu and grabbed him by the throat, pulling him to his feet with a solid jerk.

"Why do I have to go... Sir?" asked Blu, defeat clear in his voice.

"Because I am going to address my troops regarding our victory and use you as a fine example of how no one can stand up to us!"

"Daniel, stay behind the prisoner and keep him in line." declared Lizzie.

"Yes Ma'am. Move, prisoner!"

Daniel prodded Blu in his back with his foot, a silent signal for him to obey without question.

As Daniel and Blu headed for the elevator, Hannibal walked over to the right wall of the room and tapped the wood in three very specific places. The once-solid expanse separated into several discrete sections, which parted in both directions to reveal a holographic screen and a set of virtual keyboards.

After dancing the talons on his right foot across one of the keyboards, he said, "I need all of the Machines in this building to gather in the lobby. I have a very important announcement to make regarding a very important victory over our enemies. All who do not comply will suffer the appropriate consequences!"

After a second series of keystrokes, the virtual keyboards and screen vanished, only to be covered up by the returning sections of the wall.

"Come Lizzie, you and I have a most important speech to give. Our subordinates will be very thrilled to discover how thoroughly we have demoralized our enemies!"

"I agree, dear. The knowledge that the war will be brought to an end by our actions is overwhelming..."

"And rightfully so. This war has dragged on for far too long, and in a less then a month, our enemies will be put down quickly and brutally."

"That will be a very exciting day..."

The two Lear's Macaws filed into the elevator, squeezing in beside the other remaining macaws. After Hannibal clicked the lobby button on the floor selector panel, he faced Daniel and asked, "Have you heard of any important news during our absence?"

Daniel straightened his posture and replied, "Just one, Sir. Our assault Machine is merely three days away from completion."

Hannibal was not as impressed as Daniel had hoped, and neither was Lizzie. Their expressions morphed from flat to displeased, a fact that rendered Daniel curious and Blu slightly relieved.

"We need that Machine done as soon as possible. I will have to convince the metalworkers to speed up production. Once we have the spider Jumped to Rio, it will go on a rampage and demoralize the soldiers even further. By keeping the pressure on them, we will keep _their _pressure off of us."

"I see. Your logic is admirable, Sir. Perhaps you can visit the factory and settle the matter after your speech."

"I have other plans after the speech, Daniel..." remarked the Lear's Macaw while throwing a vicious glare towards Blu. "It will have to wait until after the prisoner has been given some... motivation."

"Very well, Sir. Am I going to be a part of your interaction with the prisoner?"

"I will think about it. Do not press me any more."

Daniel performed an obedient nod, and the tiny space fell silent, save for the tiny rumblings of the elevator that were amplified by the shaft.

With each minute that passed by, Blu felt more and more lost, more and more alone. The material that bound his wings had also materialized internally, serving as a snare upon his soul, preventing any slivers of positive emotion from escaping and boosting his outlook.

_If Jewel is even still alive, the spider they're talking about will completely hinder any efforts to rescue me. I feel so... hopeless. I feel so... powerless. The only way for me to escape this hell-hole is a by way of a damn miracle..._

The only indication that the elevator had reached the lobby was from the pair of silver doors sliding open to reveal a sizable gathering of birds. Hannibal and Lizzie entered into the fray first, parting the crowd with stern voices and stern actions.

Blu trotted from the elevator towards his captors, with Daniel following close behind and nudging him every so often. A straight path had been created for Blu, and he felt as though he was Jesus on the crucifixion march.

The evil birds on either side of him jeered and shouted derogatory statements at his expense.

Once he reached Hannibal and Lizzie's location he was ushered in between them by Daniel, who then claimed a spot on Hannibal's right side. Lizzie raised her wing in a wide sweep through the air, sending a wave of tense silence across the riled-up birds.

She stretched herself up slightly taller and said, "Hannibal and I have gathered you here to bear witness to a momentous victory over the Precursors and their army. This bird between us in none other than Blu, co-leader of our enemies and mate of Jewel. As you can see, the recent operation to capture one of the Precursors was a total success. We will mark this day as the day in which we triumphed over our enemies with a simple trick and ended up with one of their most valuable members. We went in with just fifty soldiers and a simple plan, and came out with the only thing we ever wanted. We came out with a way to end... this... war!"

A wave of cheers and whistles slathered with liquid joy rose from the crowd and persisted for nearly two full minutes. The way the Lear's Macaws beamed and bowed in acceptance of the praise made Blu feel physically ill.

_Such an act of evil should not be rewarded with affection and acceptance! _He shouted mentally. _The cloak of vanity is bewitching, and that very cloak is knitted by fawning words and gestures such as these! Vanity is one way true evil is blinded and rendered hesitant. Hannibal and Lizzie have no idea what they are getting themselves into..._

Not long after Blu's internal observation ceased, Hannibal silenced the crowd once more and took the opportunity to speak.

He, too, made himself appear larger before adding, "The bonds on our prisoner symbolize his restriction, both physically and mentally. It is clear evidence that he has been overcome by our cunning and steadfastness. He is no longer deserving of proper treatment, for he is below us in both rank and individuality. The closely guarded secret of the Creators is buried within his Scion, and we will force him to divulge that secret using any means possible. The means to end this war is finally in our grasp, and when our army swells to many times its present size, we will systematically exterminate our enemies, one tiny base at a time. We will then darken the skies over Rio and bring our full might down upon them, smothering them completely and scouring them from this planet. The world is ours for the taking!"

Blu flinched from the assault of noise and closed off his sense of hearing, rendering him deaf. A short while after the cacophony was initiated, Blu felt a tender tap on his back.

He craned his head around without turning his body, hoping that the Lear's Macaws would stay facing the opposite direction. Blu opened his hearing back up somewhat as Daniel leaned in extremely close, torn between curiosity and fear about what Daniel had to say.

The Military Macaw practically touched his beak to the side of Blu's head and whispered, "I am going to get you out of here as soon as I get the chance. I know you have no reason at all to trust me, but perhaps you will in the near future. I am tired of enduring their wrath and disrespect, and I am going to betray them by saving you. Hannibal and Lizzie _must not _find out about this! I will explain the details later."

Blu managed a solid nod before turning back to the churning crowd as smoothly as possible and deafening himself once again.

After two more minutes of watching the crowd dance around in a silent rave, Blu saw the cyborgs fall silent once more. He restored his hearing and listened to Hannibal's raspy voice with a new alertness.

"Now is the time for you to ask any questions that happen to be on your mind. If not, we will leave and send you all back to your regular duties."

Not a single bird raised its wing for several moments, but just as Hannibal took a step, a metal appendage shot into the air.

"You there, what is your question?"

A Scarlet Macaw thrust his way out of the throng and asked, "I want to know, Sir, if we should be expecting a counterattack by our enemies. What if they attempt a rescue mission? What if they bring all of their forces?"

Hannibal chuckled and replied, "I assure you, those lowly cyborgs are in too much shock to risk such a daring attack right now. If we can so clearly defeat them on their _own land_, they would never dare bring the fight_ here_. In addition, we plan to send a fearsome combat Machine to their HQ in two day's time, adding another layer of discouragement to their situation. There is nothing to fear from them."

"Thank you, Sir. I see your points."

"Any more questions?" queried Lizzie with unnecessary volume.

She paused to let her voice fade away, and when no one replied, she said, "Well then, we thank you for your time, and we urge you to keep the memory of our victory fresh in your minds. Now begone! You still have your duties, so go take care of them!"

She then rotated around and stared straight at Blu.

"You are coming back to our private quarters. I believe there is something you are hiding from us, and we are going to find out what that is! Daniel, control him just like before."

"Yes Ma'am."

As the four macaws began walking towards the all-too-familiar elevator, the other birds headed for the other lifting devices that were scattered around the lobby. It would take them some time to drain from the lobby, due to their significant number and comparatively low count of elevators, but the lobby would be devoid of life before long.

As the quartet of Machines slipped inside the cylinder, Hannibal pressed a button on the panel before declaring, "Daniel, I have decided to allow you into our quarters while we... interrogate the prisoner. If you so choose, you can participate and help us obtain the information we crave."

Daniel bowed and replied, "Thank you Sir. I will see if my participation is necessary and go from there."

Blu stared at Daniel, his eyes full of anguish along with slivers of hope. Daniel briefly stroked Blu's back with his wing, a gesture that told him, "I won't hurt you..."

The lifting device eventually came to a gentle stop and revealed the calm expanse of the office.

Blu knew he was minutes away from realizing the overwhelming irony of this resplendent space, when his captors would perform their "interrogation."

Blu followed in the wake of Hannibal and Lizzie, doing his best to erect a wall of denial in his mind to fight the tsunami of imminent pain.

Once they were well into the room, alongside the stately table, they all stopped.

Blu felt the window nearest him beckoning to his soul; it seemed to be whispering, "Jump... jump... jump..."

Blu seriously contemplated heeding the call and smashing through the window. With his wings bound, he would be unable to fly or slow his descent, and the dizzying plummet would without a doubt kill him.

For a moment, the urge became irresistible, but Blu managed to reign it in. Daniel had assured him that he would help him escape, and Blu felt that was his best option.

_My temporary suicide would prevent Hannibal and Lizzie from learning of my secret knowledge, but then I would never be able to live out Daniel's betrayal and make it back home..._

With that final thought, Blu relaxed as much as possible and prayed fervently for the mercy of the gods.

"Let's begin, shall we?" declared Hannibal with cliched satisfaction.

Lizzie threw herself deep into Blu's personal bubble and declared, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Tell us everything you know about your refined Scion duplication method. You've had ample time to choose, so choose!"

Blu glared back at her with as much ferocity as he could muster and retorted, "I'll never tell you anything! I choose the hard way, and I'd rather Terminate myself than endanger my comrades, my mate, and this planet!"

"You chose wrong, prisoner! We'll see how long you last before your will crumbles to dust..."

Blu was thrown to the floor by a rapid headbutt from the female, leaving him on his back and in a daze.

By the time his senses came back to full alertness, Lizzie was upon him. She lifted her right foot and stabbed her outstretched talon into Blu's stomach area. The bladed talon buried itself deep into his body, but he managed to stifle a scream and redirect its energy.

"That's... all you got? Pathetic..."

Lizzie's crimson eyes seemed to grow brighter following his taunt.

She plunged two talons into his stomach this time, and the liquid fire that flooded his system was nearly enough to break his will. His body trembled with the effort of holding back the scream.

Lizzie caught on to his deteriorating state and screeched, "Had enough yet, you fool? Your resistance is pointless! I can keep stabbing holes in your armor until you talk, or until your Core gives out."

"Well then... you better get started!"

Blu had provoked her deliberately, with one last thought running through his mind before things turned serious: _I might not be able to use my wings, but I can still use my feet! Maybe I can get them to give up this torture session if I fight back..._

As Lizzie brought her foot towards his belly in an arc, he forced his own foot beneath it and locked his talons over hers. He jerked his foot and tossed her over him in a decent somersault. He then rolled over to right himself before going in for a follow-up attack.

Just as Lizzie stood up and whirled back around to face Blu, he lowered his head and drove her into the wall like a charging bull. The wooden panels splintered and collapsed from the blow.

Lizzie's body was buried in its own crater, and Blu's head had left a sizable dent in her chest, but he had little time to revel in his success.

"You... wretch!"

Her foot shot out and clasped itself around Blu's throat like a deadly vice. He was lifted off the ground – rendering his feet useless – and flung across the room.

"I'll help, Lizzie..." said Hannibal excitedly. He raised his foot and pointed his talons straight towards Blu. Upon impact, Blu's chest was skewered by three talons that entered his back and emerged a good inch from his chest.

The miasma was overwhelming, and Blu could no longer control his primal response.

"Aaaah! Take them out! I... can't take it!"

Blu hung there like a bereft rag doll before being slammed into the floor by Hannibal. The carpet did little to absorb the force. Blu heard the wood issue muffled cracking sounds and then felt it partially give way beneath him.

Hannibal lowered his head down to the floor, catching Blu with a pleasurable stare and asking, "Now are you going to give it up?"

Through the haze of pain that clouded his mind, he croaked, "Never..."

"Very well then. Your torture shall continue, arrogant fool!"

Hannibal spun around and used his momentum to throw Blu towards the brick column with surprising force.

Hannibal's talons tore away from Blu, sending another burst of deadly pain throughout his body.

Blu then slammed into the column, shattering the bricks in a storm of beige chips and dust. Blu sank to the floor, the pain and force of the impact making it difficult for him to stay conscious. The column bore a large crater four inches deep, as if a giant hammer had swung down and burrowed into the brickwork.

While he was immobilized, Hannibal ambled towards him with deadly intention and seized his throat.

"This is your last chance prisoner. I am going to beat you senseless if you refuse!"

Blu's eyes flickered – an indicator of the strain that was being placed on his Core – and muttered, "I... refuse..."

"You idiot!"

The furious Lear's Macaw slammed his victim's head into the damaged column, sending down another stream of brick chips and swirls of dust. A noticeable dent had formed behind Blu's head, but he just smiled weakly at his mistreatment.

Lizzie and Daniel approached to watch while Hannibal bashed Blu's head deeper and deeper into the column. His body jerked with each impact, but he showed no sign of opening his beak.

His diamond will instilled a sense of anger and uncertainty inside Hannibal so deep that the Lear's Macaw could hardly even think.

Daniel was torn up inside from Blu's brutal treatment, but the Military Macaw knew that Blu had earned the right to escape. The ability of a lone bird to be able to suffer through such agony and violence far exceeded Daniel's ability, and for that he was proud.

_This bird... is far more noble and far more brave than the filth that resides in this city! He is sacrificing himself to save his compatriots... something that I would be hesitant to do. I swear to get him back to Rio, even if it means the death of me! I will not stand idly by and let this travesty continue! All I need is one chance, one moment without Hannibal and Lizzie standing over my shoulder..._

After twenty vicious poundings, Hannibal released his grip on Blu, who then slumped to the floor, barely conscious.

"I have had it with this tight-beaked fool! I don't think he's going to talk, my dear."

Lizzie replied hotly, "There is one last thing we can try. If it doesn't work, we'll wait until tomorrow and begin the torture all over again."

"What do you suggest, my dear?"

"Just watch..."

Lizzie flipped the Spix's Macaw over and positioned two of the talons on her left foot over his face. With a calculated movement, she plunged the tips into the flickering jade screens that were his eyes – the color change was a result of the Core's power being drained.

A sound like shattering glass resulted, followed by the anguished half-scream of the victim.

"My eyes! I'm blind..."

While his damaged visual areas faded to a deep black, Lizzie hoisted Blu to his feet and asked, "One last chance, prisoner. What do we need to create perfect copies of our Scions?"

"You have to... extract the data in... kernels X20 through Z50 and then..."

Daniel's Scion twisted with dread as Blu spilled his secret, and the Military Macaw prayed fervently for him to stop.

_Don't tell them! Please don't give up now! You've nearly outlasted them, Blu. Please..._

"And then what?" demanded Lizzie expectantly.

"And then... you have to... re..."

Blu's head went limp and his voice fell silent, signaling that he had finally went under.

"Damn it! We were so close! Such a weak pile of metal..."

Lizzie hurled the limp macaw across the room as far as she could, sending him ten feet away. He landed just beyond the right side of the table, belly up and motionless, like a discarded doll.

"We'll have to come back tomorrow and see if he has woken up. This is all your fault, Hannibal!"

"My fault? How so?"

"You're the one who proceeded to pulverize his head!"

"But you're the one who-"

"Excuse me Ma'am, but what are you and your mate going to do in the meantime? And what orders do you have for me?"

The argument was cut short due to Daniel's interruption, and he expected to be attacked for doing so. That was not the case.

The two birds reigned their emotions in before Lizzie replied, "Hannibal and I are going to check up on our fellow soldiers and then take a trip to the factory. You are free to do as you wish, but I strongly advise you to stay here with the prisoner. If you can find a way to wake him, do so. If not, then merely maintain a vigil over him."

Daniel raised his wing in salute and marched over to the tranquil body of Blu. Hannibal and Lizzie entered the elevator and vanished without a sound.

Daniel nudged the hunk of battered metal and said, "Blu? Can you hear me?"

He received no response.

He faced the windows and peered out at the vast expanse of the city, crouching down on his feet and doing his best to clear his mind. The sky had lightened to a lavender hue, but sunrise was not due for at least another two hours.

_Perhaps it is best that Blu stay unconscious until we get the chance to escape. Let me see, Hannibal and Lizzie mentioned they were going to the factory. They must be going to shorten the construction forecast for the spider. Once it is done, they were going to send it to Rio... that's it! I need to think of a way to stall them while we are transported along with the spider! They will without a doubt use the Jumpers, and if I can distract them, we will Jump in their place. That should give us a few precious minutes to try and find Blu's HQ. But how will I alert Blu's soldiers? A transmission, perhaps? I will have to think heavily on this and formulate a plan. I have two days to come up with one..._

Daniel saw remarkably little of Hannibal and Lizzie after that horrid twilight.

They did show up a once or twice a day to see if Blu had awakened, but Daniel informed them he had not. He did try to wake the macaw in an effort to keep up the charade he was playing, but to no avail.

He spent each following day next to Blu, brooding and scheming, slowly piecing together a somewhat viable escape plan. He rarely left Blu's side during that two day period – except when he was forced to by his maniacal leaders – for fear that the macaw would somehow wake up when Lizzie and Hannibal had taken Daniel's place.

His mind grew heavy with anxiety as reckoning day approached, but also swelled with hope and bravery that he could accomplish what he set out to do...

As the sun painted the sky on the second day after Blu's torture session, Daniel had a gut feeling that today was the day for his plan to be put into action. He was pacing around the dimly-lit office, waiting for the news regarding the state of the spider.

There was no doubt that it would be completed today, but he wanted to hear it straight from the beaks of his superiors.

It was creeping towards 1500 hours by the time the Lear's Macaws showed up, and judging by their enlightened expressions, Daniel knew they carried good news.

Hannibal motioned for him to come closer after flashing the Spix's Macaw a contemptuous glare.

"I see that the prisoner is still unresponsive."

"I'm afraid so, Sir. Not to change the subject, but it seems to me like you carry good news."

"Indeed, Daniel! Our assault Machine has been fully assembled, and all that remains to be done is a test run. Following that test, we will go and meet the spider and bring it back here for an exhibition of sorts. I will then give a short speech before having the spider sent to Rio. My mate and I are going to accompany the spider and witness firsthand the merry rampage it will initiate. I'd like to see how long our enemies will last when confronted with such a ruthless creature. Don't you, my love?"

"Why, yes I do!"

"When do you plan to depart?"

Lizzie paused for a few moments, appearing to be deep in thought.

"I think we should depart in the early evening hours, maybe right after the sun has set. The darkness will enhance the contrast of the destruction that would normally be hidden by daylight. The flashes of gunfire and explosions will become so much more visible!"

Hannibal wrapped one of his oversized wings around the female and said, "I admire your logic, my love. I agree with your proposition wholeheartedly..."

He leaned into her and gave her a sensuous kiss that lasted a uncomfortably long time for Daniel.

He drew a dose of relief after hearing that the attack would not be carried out until late in the day, giving him ample time to prepare. Finding a way to distract the macaws without getting himself or Blu captured was the biggest challenge facing him right now.

_I only have one shot. Just one! I have to send out a transmission to our enemies and enlist their help before the spider arrives. Either Blu and I escape to Rio and meet up with his army, or we get captured before the Jump and witness the beginning of the end. So much is riding on what I do and how I do it. The fate of everything Blu's ever known, along with the fate of this entire __planet. I can't screw up..._

As soon as the kiss ended, Daniel straightened his posture at the sound of the male's voice: "We are going to take you along with us when we begin the attack. You are our closest subordinate, and it is only fitting that you be with us."

"Thank you, Sir. I agree completely."

_I think I can really pull this off! One more uncertainty just turned in my favor..._

"We will be leaving now, Daniel. There is some important business that has come up. We will return thirty minutes before the attack to collect you. Do your best to restart the prisoner. It would be most pleasing to us if he is able to see his army torn asunder as it happens."

"I will do my best, Ma'am. Farewell, for now."

"Likewise, Daniel."

As the elevator doors closed, rendering the macaws invisible, Daniel could bareley contain his joy. He rushed over to Blu and shook him rapidly, hoping to transfer some of his energy to the macaw and power up his Core.

"Blu! Blu! We just might make it out of here! For some reason, I am having a stroke of marvelous luck. Still, I need you to wake up. Having to drag you everywhere will only jeopardize the mission. Wake up!"

The macaw shifted and rolled beneath Daniel's foot, but he did not stir.

"Damn it, Blu. Why are you being so stubborn? I'll have to try again later. Hannibal really screwed you up, that's for sure..."

Daniel was deep in thought as the crimson Sun rolled its way across the sky, but he did keep track of the passage of time. The hour before he and Blu would be collected was the most crucial hour of them all.

_I am going to send a transmission during Hannibal's speech, with Blu by my side, asleep or awake, as damning evidence that I am telling the truth. After that, if he is still asleep, I have to try and rouse him one last time. Once we are collected and escorted to the Jumper, I have to distract the Lear's Macaws by any means possible and disappear while they are still confused. All we can hope for once we are in Rio is a quick response by my enemies-turned-allies..._

The enormity of the coming betrayal pressed down harder and harder as the day dragged on, and Daniel did his best to keep it at bay with the hope that they would succeed.

As the time drew close to 1900 hours, Daniel settled himself down next to Blu and awaited his superiors' arrival with a blend of satisfaction and apprehension. At 1905 hours, the tense silence that suffocated the room was promptly driven away by the entrance of two Lear's Macaws.

Daniel perked himself up immediately and saluted.

"We are just letting you know that we will be back for you in thirty minutes, Daniel. Hannibal and I have a speech to give, and then our operation will be implemented."

"Very well, Ma'am. Is the tarantula already here?"

"Yes. We escorted it from the factory at 1730 hours. It is quite a sight to see, Daniel! You will be most awed by its fearsome appearance. It will strike terror into the hearts of our enemies and destroy them with ease."

"I will be waiting here for your return. I have a feeling that I can finally rouse the prisoner from his slumber. I've had plenty of time to diagnose his problem, and I think I've identified a solution."

"Wonderful. Remember, thirty minutes, Daniel..."

As soon as the macaws left the room, Daniel sent his Scion racing and scrambled into action. He stood over Blu and curled the talons on his right foot into a fist.

"Here goes nothing. This better work..."

He pounded Blu in the forehead and waited for any signs of movement, but there were none.

"Come on, Blu! We don't have time for this!"

He slugged the macaw a second time with no results, but on the third hit, he heard something shift around inside Blu's head.

Moments later, the macaw stirred and moaned, "Oh shit, my head hurts! Where... where am I? And why the hell am I blind?"

Daniel heaved Blu to his feet, but the Spix's Macaw was very unsteady.

"Woah! Stay still, Blu. Don't you remember anything?"

Blu lowered his head in thought for a few seconds. He lifted his head back up and said, "Yeah. Now I do. I'm in Amarillo, in Hannibal and Lizzie's quarters. I'm blind because... they tortured me."

"Correct, Blu. But listen, don't worry about the past right now. We need to focus on the immediate future."

Blu used his sense of hearing to locate Daniel's position, fixing him with a void gaze that was slightly creepy.

"What do... you mean?"

"The chance has arisen for us to escape. Hannibal and Lizzie are but half an hour away from sending the spider to Rio for a righteous slaughter."

Blu grew frantic and exclaimed, "What are we going to do? Do you have a plan on how to escape?"

"I have a fairly solid plan, and if you listen to what I say, the chance of us getting away is very high."

Blu shifted his stance and replied, "What choice do I have? I'm blind, you know. I'm like a fifty pound child that has to depend on others for survival."

"Yeah, that's true. Now that that's settled, we need to get started. Just follow my voice."

"Wait a minute! Aren't you going to free my wings?" Blu questioned disparagingly.

"Not yet, Blu. They need to see you in the exact same state as you were before."

Daniel walked over to the pseudo-wall and revealed the secret screen and keyboards just like Hannibal had done.

"Come over here, Blu." said Daniel flatly.

He trudged over to Daniel like a drunkard, his footsteps weak and his head hanging. He felt himself grow faint as he came up on Daniel's left side, leaning on him for support.

"Hey, be careful! You're heavy!"

"I can't help that. I feel... tired..."

"No, do _not _go out again. I need your help. I am going to try and send a transmission to your soldiers and let them know what's going on. What's the communication channel for your HQ?"

"Its... R51-D254-J085-PXC095-CFA44"

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Daniel punched in the string of letters and numbers using the floating keyboard and confirmed them as the message's destination.

He then set up the message to be recorded and flashed a careful glance over his shoulder.

They were still alone.

"Blu, are you ready? I'm going to need you to back me up."

"I... can do that."

"Go rest against the wall over there until I need you."

Blu removed his dead weight off of the Military Macaw and slumped down a few feet away.

Daniel donned a serious expression, threw another glance over his shoulder, and then stared at the screen after hitting the record button.

"If you can hear me, listen closely. I don't have long to talk. My name is Daniel, and I used to be second in command to Hannibal and Lizzie. Due to prior and current circumstances, I have chosen to betray them and save the life of this macaw..."

Daniel left the screen and pulled Blu up back onto his shoulder, groaning with the effort it took. He carefully brought Blu back to the screen and resumed his speech.

"This macaw was captured two nights ago by my former leaders, and I am going to do my best to return him to his home. Pay utmost attention to what I am about to say. Hannibal and Lizzie are going to send a fearsome Machine in the shape of a tarantula to Rio in less than fifteen minutes. Blu and I are going to stall Hannibal and Lizzie before they can Jump with the spider, which is what we are going to do. We're going to land at a point two miles north of Rio. Bring all of the soldiers you can muster, because that Machine is going to be very difficult to destroy. I know its weakness, but without enough firepower, it will slaughter us all. The Jumper will have to be called back before Hannibal and Lizzie can come after us. If at all possible, neither of them must escape. Either capture them or kill them, it does not matter. Now, I think Blu here has a few words to say."

Daniel shifted Blu's weight and moved him slightly closer to the screen.

Blu muttered, "Jewel... you have to trust him. This is our... only shot. They haven't forced... the Key out of me yet..."

Blu's voice faded away, and Daniel concluded the message by saying, "Fifteen minutes. Two miles north of Rio. Bring everyone you've got. Do not delay..."

He ended the recording and sent the message off towards its destination. He then stowed away the virtual instruments and brought the wooden wall back into place, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Come on, Blu, they won't be long now. Let's go wait by the elevator. Can you walk?"

"I think so. Let me go."

Daniel eased away from his battered friend, who managed to remain upright. They walked slowly over to the far corner of the room and waited patiently for the pair of macaws to appear. Both of their Scions were churning with courage and swirling with hope.

There was but one last step to take before the ordeal was finished.

"Okay, here's how we're going to stall those two birds before they can Jump with the spider: I am going to knock Hannibal with my wing right as the Jumper springs to life. Do you think you can help by taking care of Lizzie?"

"Yeah. What will we do... once we're in Rio?"

"That I am not so sure about. We'll just have to look around and try to find your mate and the others. They shouldn't be too far off."

"And what about the spider? How will we stall _him_?"

"Hmmm. I'll tell him the base is north of our position, instead of south."

"You better hope he isn't smart enough to see through your trick, because then it's game over."

Daniel did not feel the need to reply.

A short while after their conversation ended, Blu came face to face with his tormentors, who grew ecstatic upon seeing his improved condition.

"I see you finally managed to rouse him. I assume you weren't really looking forward to dragging him around, now were you?" asked Lizzie.

"No, I wasn't."

There was no humor in his voice. Such a thing had no meaning when in the presence of the two diabolical macaws.

"Now that the prisoner is mobile, how about we go outside and take a little trip to Rio? There is going to be quite a lot of entertainment. It would be a shame for us to miss it." added Hannibal.

They motioned for Daniel and Blu to enter the capsule first and then slid their way in after them.

The trip from the top floor to the lobby was relatively quick, and as the four cyborgs left the elevator – with Blu guided by Daniel's soft voice – all but Blu caught sight of the spider peering at them from behind the entrance doors.

The sight of the tarantula's beady scarlet eyes, wiry legs, and menacing fangs chilled Daniel to the bone.

_Blu is lucky to be blind. If its job is to strike terror into our enemies, it sure seems like it'll do a damn good job..._

They crossed the lobby and pushed past the doors, emerging into the cool, clear evening air.

The tarantula withdrew as they walked towards the Jumper in the middle of the nearby street, his weight sending palpable tremors through the pavement.

They all froze next to the cylindrical device as the towering Machine approached.

Hannibal puffed out his chest and said, "Daniel, prisoner, this is Rakdos. He is the means by which we will besiege the city of Rio, and more importantly, the base that is stationed there. I am quite anxious to get going, so we should not delay..."

_Here we go... _thought Blu, his silent words infused with deep longing and burning hope.

Daniel watched carefully as the male keyed in the coordinates, giving Blu a telling nudge while he did so.

Hannibal's talon withdrew from the Jumper, and the instant it met the ground – as detected by Daniel's vision and Blu's hearing – the macaws made their move.

With perfect synchronicity, they whirled around and caught the two macaws completely off guard. Daniel extended his wing and drove its leading edge into Hannibal's throat, the momentum of his spin lending the blow deadly force. Blu landed another headlong charge right into Lizzie's gut.

The sharp shriek of metal meeting metal echoed all around them. Hannibal was sent reeling a fair distance back, as was Lizzie, who had been completely knocked off balance.

The last thing either of them heard before the lightning cascaded down over them was a bewildered and furious cry: "Traitor! Your life is over!"

Within seconds, Daniel and Blu's travel was over, and they were dropped gently to the soft jungle ground.

What they saw while the Jump took place was beyond words and could not be described, for that was the way in which the Jumpers distorted space-time to allow efficient transmission of objects. The larger the object, though, the longer it took to arrive, if only by a few seconds.

They barely had time to gauge compose themselves before the tarantula materialized, falling to the earth and shaking the ground with its great weight. Without a moment to waste, Daniel shouted, "Rakdos, the base is to the north of here! You must go quickly, before they have a chance to flee!"

"Thank you, Daniel," replied the creature with its guttural voice. "I will try to prolong the slaughter and give both of you the chance to witness it!"

Rakdos spun around on his eight stout legs and galloped away, tearing a path through the foliage as he went.

"What a fool. Way to go, Daniel!"

"Agreed. Now, all we have to do is wait for the welcoming committee."

"Can you take these wires off of me now? I need to spread my wings! It feels like they're cramped and useless."

"Oh, of course. You do know it's going to hurt like hell, right?"

"Yeah. Just get it over-"

Blu's voice cut off and his body froze in place, meaning that his Core had given out again.

"Oh well, maybe it's better that you don't have to endure the pain all over again..."

Daniel removed the hooks with a certain carelessness, allowing the loops of wire to slide from his body and come to a rest on the mossy ground.

"There. I guess I am going to have to pound you in the forehead again!"

Daniel brought his wing up and was about to drive it into Blu's head when the macaw twitched and came back to his senses.

The blackout had left him delirious once more, and he hardly even noticed that his wings were unbound.

Moments later, the ground was rocked by a steady series of tremors, followed by a pleading shout from not too far ahead: "Daniel? Blu? Is that you? This is Jewel. I'm over here!"

Daniel's heart soared to staggering heights upon recognizing the name. Jewel was none other than Blu's mate, signaling that the help he had requested had come to save them, and hopefully put the spider and its leaders to an end.

He grabbed the confused macaw by the wing and pulled him towards a nearby wall of plants. The footfalls that caused the ground to tremble had ceased, and as Daniel and his cargo burst into a small berry-filled grove, the Military Macaw came upon the source of the tremors.

The shadowed silhouette of what appeared to be a wolf stood before him, its front paws planted down on the other side of the grove. Its neon green eyes cut through the darkness with great intensity, but above them, a smaller pair of strong blue ones were fixed upon him as well.

"Whoa! I guess we found who we were looking for. Come on, help us up. Blu is having a hard time staying conscious..."

The wolf's joints groaned as he leaned down, his muzzle coming down flat on the ground to their right. Jewel hauled Daniel up onto the wolf's head first, followed by a dazed Blu. Daniel watched as Jewel took one look at her battered mate and peered down at him like a newborn child.

A flurry of utter relief and crushing sadness seemed to stream out from her, and Daniel was able to pick up on it.

"Take us back to my children, Lucian. Blu needs to get seen about really soon!"

Her emotionally distorted voice rang out and bounced around the grove several times. Blu reveled in the sound of her honey-sweet voice, and it sounded as though an angel had spoken to him.

He reached for her face with a trembling wing, but she carefully lowered it back down with her own.

"Jewel... is that you?"

"Yes, it is me. Save your strength, Blu. You'll be taken care of in just a few minutes."

She attributed his darkened eyes as part of the cause of his confusion, but she was too overwhelmed to find out what had caused it. The wolf turned and executed a perfect leap, sailing through the air and crashing down next to a group of macaws that bore a stunning likeness to Blu and Jewel.

_That must be their children. If Blu and Jewel find it in their Scions to welcome me as a fellow soldier, perhaps I can find someone to love. I may not be able to have children, but at least I'll have someone to hold in my wings, just like them..._

As the wolf dropped to the earth next to the line of Machines, Daniel slid Blu out of Jewel's grasp and passed him to what looked like a male macaw.

The macaws flinched visibly as they recognized Blu's plight.

Jewel peered down at them and declared, "Ricardo, have Esperanza and Vicente help you carry your father back to HQ. Go!"

They secured Blu's body as best they could with their six talons, showing that the deadly blades could be utilized for more than just grisly tasks. As the four figures became lost to Daniel's night vision, he refocused his mind as Jewel turned to face him.

"Where is the spider and what is its weakness?"

Her voice had lost all its sincerity and worry. It had become not the voice of a mate, but of a battle-hardened leader, calculating and cruel.

"I managed to trick it into running off to the north. It should be back in about three minutes once it realizes its going the wrong way. To answer your second question, its the legs. Take them out, and the spider will be nothing more than a turtle stuck upside down. Once it is immobile, you can finish it off. Just the same, the wolf has to watch out for those legs, because they are razor-sharp and have the ability to impale."

It took Jewel but a moment to soak in Daniel's information, and the Military Macaw could sense what she was about ask next.

"What weapons does it have?"

"Six fifty-caliber machine guns on its abdomen and one eight-inch cannon on its abdomen as well."

Jewel nodded and stared down at the wolf's sleek, domed head.

"Did you catch all of that, Lucian?"

Shuffling, clicking, and grating sounds rumbled beneath Daniel's feet as the Machine deployed its arsenal of weapons. Daniel craned his head around and found himself staring down the twin barrels of a quite-large gun, their cold, dark depths hiding the massive shells out of sight.

"Perfectly, Commander." replied the creature with unwavering conviction.

"Now all we do is wait..." said Daniel with little emotion.

Slowly and steadily, a sound akin to the rain-forest being shredded grew in volume, along with the frightened chorus of birds taking flight.

Jewel and Daniel hastily left their post and faced the direction from which the sounds were issuing from.

The wolf rose back to his full height as the danger approached, his muzzle pulled back in a confident grin, his jade eyes like alien headlights in the night.

Jewel pointed towards the north with her wing and yelled, "Go kick his eight-legged ass!"

The wolf surged forward without hesitation, trampling the foliage underfoot and leaving a clear path by which both macaws could observe the imminent conflict.

_It's all come down to this battle. Please let Jewel's Machine win! Once that creature is destroyed, Hannibal and Lizzie won't have a chance of getting away. The pursuers will become the pursued. The tormentors will become the tormented. The killers will be killed themselves! They will fall under the hammer of Jewel's wrath and be crushed from existence. It will be one of the final steps she will take on the journey towards the war's end._

Daniel turned around briefly and peered deep into the inky southern horizon, knowing that Blu was somewhere out there and in the best hands – or rather talons – possible.

_Just give us some time, Blu. Jewel and I will come back to you and comfort you. Well, Jewel will be doing most of the comforting. I'll just be there as backup! Oh well, I've done all I can for now by saving you, at great risk to both our lives. Nonetheless, we've done it, and I am proud to have saved such a noble and caring individual..._


	4. A Tale Of Origins

**Yeah, this story has been sitting dormant in my computer for quite some time. Needless to say, this update has been long overdue.**

**I plan to gather up enough motivation to finish it before 2012. ****Only 1 or 2 chapters left to go!**

**Sorry for the length, I hope it doesn't prevent any of you from giving me some reviews!**

**As for the rating change, you can probably guess the reason behind it. It was inspired by a similar chapter in therobotchicken's "Life Ater The Jump." Hint, it's a citrus fruit. ;-)**

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: A Tale Of Origins<strong>

It was the year 2075, and the world was an altered – yet still peaceful – place. Flying cars were the norm in these inventive times, yet the advancements of human technology hardly stopped there.

Buses, taxis and semis scuttled through the air, gliding within invisible lanes and avenues in the sky. Mile long trains drifted over the great cities of the world, temporarily halting the traffic as they went.

Grandest of all were the cargo ships, once bound to the oceans, yet now creeping along through the clear atmosphere, casting looming shadows over the ground they hovered above.

This was the scene that played out in every major city and population center across the globe, a radical display of man's aspirations, coupled with the power to realize those aspirations. Megalopolises such as New York, Dubai, Venice, and Paris were sprawling in size, stretching even beyond the limits of human eyesight and filled with stunningly tall and wondrous buildings.

The vast population of Earth was to blame, for to accommodate the burgeoning numbers of humans, cities not only spread outwards, but also upwards.

A fine example of the fusion of human life with the glory of nature was Rio de Janeiro. A bay-side mega-hub swarming with countless millions of people, the allure of the azure waters had never faded as the decades passed.

Here, along with the many hundreds of other urban jungles scattered across the planet, life was grand and enriching, yet also filled with simplicity at times.

Nonetheless, problems both mighty and minuscule abounded, and humanity was pitted in a constant struggle to conceive solutions to those problems.

On the outskirts of Rio, in a time-scoured ivory building surrounded by lush jungle, that very process was occurring, despite being in its twentieth year.

It appeared hardly the place where such a tenacious conflict could reside. The broken-down sign near the beginning of the dusty drive, a short ways from the structure, lay in pieces. The once-vibrant image of a blue macaw head was hardly recognizable, the words "Blu Bird Sanctuary" curving around it mere shadows of dried paint on the wood surface.

Although its true identity was known to all but a few, it stood as a monument to ingenuity and the fight to save Earth's species from the poison of man.

Its original owners, a happily married couple named Tulio and Linda, had passed away in 2065. Their three surviving children had chosen to take care of the building, but only a few years later, the duties of their flourishing lives had forced them to abandon their watch.

That very sanctuary was also home to a pair of macaws who happened to be the last adults of their species, and their six offspring. That ivory construct had been their home since the early 21st century, and despite the current date, it still was.

Regardless, all eight of the prized birds had grown very old. They teetered on the brink of extinction, and would have fallen into the abyss if it wasn't for the bright minds of a team of scientists hellbent on preserving them.

Their project had been in its infancy while Tulio and Linda were still alive, and the scientists had proposed their idea to save the fancy birds directly to the sanctuary owners in 2055. Faced with no other options, they agreed, and the eight macaws were smoothly adopted into the program.

The researchers became nearly a second family to the Spix's Macaws, treating them as equals rather than objects of study. In secret, however, the goal of somehow immortalizing the macaws was being heavily scrutinized.

Progress was slow, despite the marvelous technology that humankind had conjured. Time marched on, and as the macaws grew older, the end was still nowhere in sight.

The prospective humans had been utilizing a variety of breakthrough medications to prolong the lives of the macaws. The controlled doses of steroids and compounds functioned well for nearly four decades, but as the birds' bodies grew accustomed, the efficiency slowly declined year by year.

The macaws' lives had been extended even past the lives of their human owners, though the death of Linda and Tulio slightly hampered the project. As soon as the proper respects had been paid, the twenty-strong group of brains redoubled their efforts.

They established a knowledge base in that very sanctuary after Linda and Tulio's passing, desperate to solve the extensive problem that had plagued them. Though the macaws were the main data bank for the team, they ultimately aimed to immortalize all the Earth's dwindling species.

For all their intelligence and prowess, a solution eluded them, the date inching closer and closer to the 22nd century. With the macaws' quality of life degrading at a slow-yet-deadly pace, they knew that failure was not an option. Their crowning moment of achievement came in the year 2085, when they finally possessed the ability and resources to fuse animal and machine into a more perfect being.

The design was ready for testing, and the humans were hopeful, but the price of implementing their strategy was dire. For the macaws to live, they would have to be killed beforehand, an irony that pained the humans to no end.

On one sweet, mild winter morning in Rio, the decision was made to go ahead with the plan. Once and for all, the macaws would be rendered immortal, never having to fear the concept of death any longer...

* * *

><p>A somewhat aged man stood in the center of the room, flanked on all sides by his colleagues.<p>

With his hands raised in a telling manner, he said, "We cannot afford to postpone our efforts anymore, my friends. Blu, Jewel, and their offspring are deteriorating, both physically and mentally, and we must end their suffering today."

Turning to face a lanky, blond-haired man, he asked, "Tom, are the shells ready to accept the data cores?"

Nodding strongly, Tom replied, "Yes, Julius. As for their functionality, we'll have to see that once the cores are implanted."

Julius then looked over to his left, spying a short, sweet looking brunette with her arms crossed.

"Karen," he said, "is the data transfer lab ready for use?"

"Always has been, Julius. Though I have to say, it's gotten really dusty as of late."

"I suggest you head in there, clean everything up, and get the computers running."

"No problem, Julius."

The female turned away, breaking the outline of the circle and marching off into an adjoining room.

Facing a taller, more athletic blond, Julius asked, "Stacy, how much serum R66 do we have?"

"Enough to knock out a whole flock of birds."

"Right. Would you prepare a lethal dose for Blu and Jewel? They deserve a gentle departure from this world."

"Uh, sure. Be back in a few."

Stacy departed as well, crossing the carpeted floor and entering another room on the opposite side of the sanctuary.

"Are we really going to... kill Blu and Jewel? I think more testing needs to be done on the robotic forms before-"

"No, Drake, there isn't time," said Julius sharply, "those poor birds are suffering, and quite frankly, I think we've done enough damn testing by now. I'm ready for results, not research."

Drake was silenced by Julius's reply, looking down at the carpet, his face a mask of doubt.

"All right then, I say it's time to get things done. Tom, you go gather Blu and Jewel's mechanical bodies and take them into the transfer lab. Fred, procure two data capsules and two cores for the bodies, and then join Tom and Karen. Everyone else, just wait here. I'm going to head out and find Blu and Jewel. I'll be right back."

After the respective parties split off and headed towards their destinations, Tom nodded to the diminished group and broke free from the circle.

Peeling open the front door of the structure, he stepped outside, emerging into the mild glory of the Rio morning. Drawing in a rich breath, he began a trek into the nearby jungle.

The eight macaws were allowed to fly free and live as much as a normal lifestyle as possible, but they usually didn't stray far from the building. As of late, they hadn't been doing much flying, for their semi-youthful bodies were beginning to tire.

Julius ambled briskly into the jungle for two minutes, pausing once finding himself next to a crystal pool they often used for bathing. Judging by the stray feathers lying around the perimeter, Julius deduced that the birds had been there recently.

He let loose a long whistle followed by a short one, briefly shattering the blissful silence. He strolled around the pond while he waited, and after completing a few revolutions, a flurry of wing-beats signaled the approach of his intended party.

Squawking mellowly, Blu and Jewel burst forth from the undergrowth in front of him, slowing their flight drastically. Julius extended his bare arm, a gesture that the macaws well understood. The pair of macaws alighted happily on the living perch, their talons tickling his skin.

Suppressing a laugh, he raised his right hand, scratching Blu under the chin first, and then moving on to Jewel.

"Hey there, you two. Looking good today! Have you eaten breakfast?"

A tiny speaker in Jewel's beak, connected to a chip in her brain via her nervous system, allowed her to speak as efficiently as any human being. Deep in the web of neurons inside her head, the chip processed what she wanted to say, then converted it into actual, recognizable sound.

Her beak need not move for the sound to be transmitted, but she did it out of habit.

"Yes, Julius, both Blu and I have eaten. The kids are still sleeping, though. Actually, your call woke us up."

Suddenly feeling sheepish, he chuckled and said, "Oh, did I? I'm sorry."

Shaking his head firmly, Blu replied, "No, don't worry about it. I was in the middle of a not so pleasant dream, and I have you to thank for getting me out of it. Anyways, what's up?"

Without directly answering Blu's question, he said, "I'll tell you on the way. I'm taking you on a little walk."

Julius turned gently and began a return journey to the sanctuary, Blu and Jewel gripping his arm rather tightly for balance. They appeared rather energetic despite their tattered appearances, but he knew they were acting spry to avoid worrying him.

After exiting the pool area, he said, "Today is going to be a very... momentous day for you two, to say the least..." he said, keeping his gaze trained before him.

Jewel's curious voice replied, "How so, buddy? Come up with a fancy new experiment?"

"Not really, Jewel. It's something more... serious than that."

"Do you mind telling us what it is? I'm starting to feel nervous now, Julius."

The man paused mid-stride, turning to Blu with a solemn expression glued to his face.

"In a short time, both you and Jewel will see. Just be patient, we're almost there."

He then resumed walking, his silence perturbing the macaws internally, leaving them both anxious and confused at his sudden change in demeanor. He was a normally talkative, imposing figure, and his reclusive attitude led Blu and Jewel to think that something was amiss.

They themselves refrained from speaking for the rest of the journey, their guts churning steadily.

After a few more minutes of walking in unnerving silence, Julius reached the front face of the sanctuary, stopping in the middle of the desiccated driveway.

"Now will you tell us?" asked Blu, somewhat irritated.

With a heavy sigh, Julius faced the two macaws one more, his face tight.

"My colleagues and I have come to a decision regarding the immortality experiment, something which you both know so much about."

Momentarily stunned, it was a few seconds before either macaw responded to his statement.

"R-really? What's going to happen now? What did you guys decide?"

"I, as well as they, are deeply concerned about your quality of life. We are growing weary of seeing both of you so frail, so vulnerable, so _old._ Concurrently, the two tungsten carbide forms we have been developing in your image are ready for use. Do I need to explain myself any further?"

As Julius's words sank in, the hidden meaning rapidly became clear to the mated pair of macaws. After giving each other fearful looks, they focused those same looks on Julius.

"You don't m-mean," began Blu, "that it's time f-for us to d-die, right?"

"I am sorry, but that's exactly what it means. We can only extract the information in your brains after they are shut down, which only occurs after death. We've spent many decades pursuing this goal, and finally, we are ready to accomplish it. If it succeeds, which is highly likely, you and Jewel will become part bird, part machine, and most importantly, immortal. Extinction will no longer be an issue. And before you ask, your children will eventually join you, but there's really no reason to argue that."

After drawing in a breath, Julius concluded his mini speech: "Don't you want that, Blu? To be forever by Jewel's side, as well with your children, never having to fear death by old age, predation, or sickness? To live on and on, until the very end of time?"

Blu nearly toppled from Julius's arm, his senses confounded by the brutal ultimatum forced upon him. Jewel steadied him with her wings, pulling him closer to her just in case he stumbled again.

After a short eternity, the male macaw finally gathered the will to respond.

"I... Julius... this is all so sudden! Oh man, this is so not what I wanted to hear on this fine morning."

After shaking his head in astonishment, he added, "But, for all it's worth, I have to agree with you. For the past year now, I've been feeling worn out all the time, not to mention my appearance is definitely sub-par. I've recently been taking day-long naps, but they don't seem to be helping. I genuinely look and feel _old, _Julius. I know this sounds wrong, but I'm tired of living, tired of fighting. But, before I let myself be subject to this massive alteration of existence, at least give me a day or two to prepare."

Jewel smiled widely at Blu, amazed by the perfection and honesty of his speech. She herself felt exactly the same way, but since Julius couldn't read her mind, she opted to clarify her own situation.

"Julius?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes, my friend?"

"I... have to agree with my mate. Life is no longer as enjoyable as it used to be. Just please let us inform our children and prepare for our coming ends. Please?"

Dipping his head in acknowledgment, the brown-haired man replied, "Of course, Jewel. I figured you and Blu would want to postpone the operation. If we've waited thirty years to reach this point, I believe a few days wouldn't hurt. I apologize deeply for traumatizing you with this information, and on such short notice. This is just as hard for me as it is for you, but I know in my heart that only positive ripples will emerge from this trial."

"Wise words, Julius," responded Blu, "you speak with nearly as much eloquence as our daughter, Esperanza."

"Thank you, my feathered accomplice. I owe you much more than you will ever owe me, and I will do _anything_ to ease the distress these circumstances place upon you and your mate. Don't keep me waiting too long, alright?"

"Agreed, Julius. We will see you once we have settled all of our duties..." said Jewel with conviction.

With that, she sprang from his bare arm, wheeling about and gliding into the undergrowth. Blu departed moments later, hustling to catch up with his mate, issuing a series of screeches as he flew.

After Blu's vibrant hue vanished from sight, Julius crept back into the main meeting room, drawing the attention of more than a dozen humans.

"Where's Blu and Jewel? Did you not find them?" said Stacy strongly, twirling the pair of syringes in her hands for emphasis.

Ignoring the dark innuendo, he replied, "Yes, I found them. They asked that I give them a few days to prepare for the procedure, so I did."

"Ah," she replied flatly. "You know, I was kind of hoping to get started. We've been lounging around all morning." she added roughly.

"What would you do in their situation, Stacy? No different, I'm sure." countered Julius.

"Why didn't you just grab them and wring their puny necks?" she muttered under her breath, inaudible to all but herself.

"I think we should tidy this place up before we switch their bodies. Judging by how it looks now, I'd say it's in a state of disarray..." said a well-muscled Mexican man.

Feeling content with the statement, Julius said, "Good point, Miguel. That's a perfect way to stay occupied until our VIPs' return."

"No problem, J man! We're all homies around here, right?"

"Correct. Now, let's get to work, people! No more 'lounging around,' as Stacy so righteously put it..."

After clapping his hands a few times, the tight circle of humans broke apart, spreading throughout the room like a wave, intent on following the order of Julius.

Relatively far away from the humans' lab, Blu and Jewel flew on towards the abode of their six offspring with illuminated hearts. Though they felt strange for appreciating their coming deaths, being reborn into near-perfect entities far outweighed the absurdity of the notion.

Eventually, they came upon their destination, finding all six macaws sitting on the ground, eating a rich breakfast of starfruit and berries. Blu and Jewel's touchdown snagged the attention of the diners, who all issued warm greetings to their parents.

After recovering from the tight hugs they received from their delighted offspring, Blu and Jewel cleared their throats.

"My sweet children, there is something I must tell you."

Inching closer, Liliana, Stefano, and Josefina, the youngest triplets, all asked, "What is it, Daddy? Tell us! Tell us!"

Donning a mellow expression, Blu said, "Your mother and I are due to undergo Julius's master operation, one that will render us more than mere animals. The only catch is that... we will have to be dispatched prior to the procedure."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Josefina asked curiously.

"It means, dear daughter, that your father and I will have to be... killed."

At this, all six macaws slumped in their spots, as if their bones had become unhinged.

"Wh-what? You can't be serious! I must be dreaming!" exclaimed Stefano incredulously.

The three younger macaws' eyes became damp with tears, while the older three remained frozen with shock. Blu immediately ran his wing over the crying birds in an attempt to subdue their lachrymose states.

"It's okay, my little ones. Please stop crying. Let me explain."

Their wailing died down to occasional sniffling as they looked up at Blu, their faces damp.

"Jewel and I will only be gone for less than a week. Once we learn to control our mechanical bodies, we will come visit you. Eventually, you will receive your own tungsten carbide housings. Together, we'll be one big, happy, immortal family. Just imagine how wonderful that will be!"

"R-really?" queried Liliana.

"Are you sure you and Mom are going to be safe? What happens if... if... something goes wrong?" added the older Ricardo.

Jewel then took charge of the situation, drawing in a deep preparatory breath.

"I know this sounds horrible, but it's true. Now, although I don't know as much about the specifics as Julius and his team does, I am convinced he knows how to handle it. There's no reason to worry."

The macaws before Jewel still appeared less than positive about the announcement, but since their parents seemed so high-spirited, they felt compelled to emulate them.

Esperanza sighed and stated, "I suppose we can't prevent you from going ahead with this dastardly experiment, but deeply worried I will be, until I see you and Dad whole again. I probably won't get any sleep tonight."

Ricardo put his two cents in by saying, "It's noble of you to come and warn us of Julius's intentions. I know that sounds cheesy, but that's how it is. When are you planning on having it done?"

"Most likely later tonight, or early morning tomorrow. Aside from warning you all, there's a few other orders of business to attend to before we depart."

After receiving slightly disturbed glares from her children, Jewel turned to Blu and flashed him a sly look, causing him to blush.

After stepping sheepishly away from her, Blu chuckled nervously and said, "I think it's best that you just stay in the jungle until the transfer is complete. It is not worth it to put you through the trauma of watching us endure the operation. Julius will make sure that everything goes smoothly. We won't be gone for long. I promise..."

One by one, Blu paced around his offspring, giving each of them an encouraging hug bloated with fatherly love. Jewel then did the same, tacking on a light kiss to each of their cheeks.

Blu and Jewel then rejoined, rooting themselves side-by-side in front of their creations.

"From the deepest recesses of my heart, I want you to know that I love every single one of you. That's how it's been since the day you hatched, and it's never changed. We've been through an uncountable number of experiences as a family, both positive and negative, and nothing can tear us apart. Do not weep over the death of your mother and I, but rather rejoice, my children. Shortly after our transformation, you will undergo the transfer as well, and we will once again be united. Although we will have transcended the boundaries of biology, our spirits will remain linked, just as they are now."

A luscious smile capped off Blu's speech, at which point Jewel spoke for herself.

"Your father said everything I was going to say, and more. Tonight, I want you all to dream happy dreams. A brand new existence awaits us, and that is something to embrace, not reject. My love for you is endless, and that is how it will stay. Know this, my darlings, we will _always_ be here for you..."

The combined speeches of Blu and Jewel left the younger macaws in tears for a second time. The small crowd gave them another round of crushing hugs before retreating, their faces beaming with pride and resolve.

"We love you too, Mom and Dad. Promise us you won't leave us behind for too long, okay?" they all chanted.

"We promise, with all our hearts..." replied Blu and Jewel, their voices laden with truth.

"I guess this is goodbye, then..." the children said softly.

"Indeed it is. Your father and I are going to share our last day together as normal birds." replied Jewel.

"Farewell, my sweets. We will meet again very soon." quipped Blu.

After waving to their offspring, Blu and Jewel lifted off from the ground, sending twin waves of cool air over the young creatures. Pleased with the perfection of their speeches, Blu and Jewel powered on towards their home, their minds clear and their spirits soothed.

Nonetheless, their premature awakening by Julius, coupled with the shock of his announcement, had drained their bodies of energy. As they landed with a tumble in their hollow, they both knew a righteou nap was in order.

After heaving himself off of Jewel, Blu said, "Now that we've taken care of the duty to our children, all that's left is to resolve the debt we owe each other."

Picking up on the veiled meaning in his words, Jewel flashed him a faint smirk. "I suppose you are right, but I desperately need a nap. We can repay that debt tonight."

Letting loose a yawn, Blu replied, "Yeah. There's no point in wasting the feeling when we're so... tired."

Blu retreated to the deepest corner of the hollow, plunking himself down in the nest. Jewel quickly joined him, squeezing in next to his toasty body.

After trapping him with her wing, she snuggled into him and whispered, "I love you so much, Blu."

"Over fifty years later, I still adore the sound of that. I love you too, my gorgeous angel. Sleep well."

"Right back at you, handsome..."

The two elderly lovebirds, content in their proximity to each other, were cast into the dream realm in mere seconds.

Just as they had asked their offspring to do, Blu and Jewel fabricated a heavenly world inside their minds, quiet and peaceful. In that imaginary space, they laughed, flew, and danced, appreciating the beauty of life and the beauty of love.

Although they were only hours from meeting their deaths, they did not fear. The gift of becoming immortal was something they would gladly die for, no matter how ironic it sounded.

They were proud to say that their earthly lives had been vastly fruitful, but it was time for them to move on. Although they were both nearly sixty years in age, it was merely the first sixty years of a limitless lifespan.

The hours crept by at a snail's pace for the waking souls, but such was not the case for Blu and Jewel. Mesmerized by the fantasies playing out in their heads, time dashed by like a rocket to the Moon. Once their souls were satisfied by the mental shows in their brains, they were ejected languidly from the folds of sleep.

Upon seeing Blu's face so close to hers, Jewel blinked rapidly, a delicate smile forming on her once-drowsy face.

"Well hello, sleepy head. Do you feel rested?"

Nodding his head in accordance, Blu replied, "Why yes, my love. My dream was most enriching, solely because you were inhabiting it with me..."

Feeling delighted by his comment, she tickled his beak with a deep kiss, his eyes closing reflexively from her maneuver. After she pulled back, she noticed him slumped against the edge of the nest, his head hanging in a half-stupor.

Playfully, she shoved him with reasonable force, assisting his exit from the mossy bed. He plunked lightly onto the floor, the sudden change of texture jarring him back to reality.

After righting himself, he said, "I would expect you to apologize, but that kiss... convinced me otherwise. Could you... give me another one?"

He tiled his head expectantly, his eyes narrowed in the manner of a puppy's.

"I guess you deserve a round two."

Hopping from the nest, Jewel allowed her partly-featherless chest to brush against Blu's for a few moments before taking Blu up on his request. She dug her tongue into his beak, enjoying the tingling that filled her body when her tongue met his.

She kept up the osculation for a few seconds, before her accelerating heart began to protest. Feeling short of breath, she withdrew, only to find herself staring head-on into Blu's faded chocolate irises.

"So delicious, Jewel. You still taste just as refreshing as you did when we first kissed. Thank you."

"As do you, handsome..."

She trotted gracefully past Blu until she reached the edge of the hollow, at which point she leaned out.

"Whoa, it sure is dark out here! I wonder how late it is? Perhaps we should... go see Julius and let him... you know..."

Jewel retreated back into the hollow, scolding herself mentally for ruining the mood.

Suddenly, an audible gurgle issued from her stomach, provoking a cheerful reaction in her mate.

"Your body's trying to tell you something, my angel." he stated, smiling.

Chuckling, she replied, "I can tell. How about we head out and snatch up some fine fruit? It'll be the last meal we'll ever have, so we should make it extra delicious."

Blu hopped past her, pausing on the edge of the hollow and saying, "Fair points, my love, but I'll search for the both of us. You just wait here, alright?"

"Sure thing, handsome. Thank you."

Blu flashed her a stern nod before peeling away from the tree, vanishing from Jewel's line of sight rapidly.

Detecting a wave of contentment ignited by her mate's take-charge attitude, she perched herself on the rim and gazed out. She caught the final glimpses of her mate streaking through the undergrowth, a comet-blue flash amidst the leafy green bowers.

His distance from her was already registering in her brain, and she let out a sigh of longing. Turning away from the blackness of the outside world, she ambled over to the nest, settling herself down in it, comfortably.

While she waited for her knight's return, she lazily toyed with the bundle of twigs below her, rearranging them into a more orderly design. She worked her way around the perimeter, inch by inch, until the entire nest was reorganized nicely.

She then set upon the moss, waving it around in the air with her feet to increase its fluffiness. She then spread it all over the inner surface, making sure than no stray sticks were poking through. Feeling rather pleased with her work, she fixed her eyesight on the oval entryway, praying that her mate would return soon.

Eventually, Blu slipped back into the hollow, his feet and beak laden with all the fruit he could carry.

Jewel carefully extracted herself from the nest and said, "I'm glad you're back. I missed you, handsome."

Blu released the dragon fruit from his beak so that he could speak.

"Huh? Oh, really? I missed you too! I picked only choice fruit for our... last supper, if you will. Here you go!"

Blu scooped up a passion fruit with his left foot and tossed it to her gently. She allowed it roll up to her, then raised her right foot and lifted it from the floor.

She gave the succulent orb a deep sniff, the rich aromas tickling her nostrils.

"This fruit even _smells_ delicious! Thank you so much, Blu."

"Oh, you are most welcome, honey." he declared before taking a measured bite from his dragon fruit.

After watching him munch away with his eyes closed, she followed suit, gouging out a sizable chunk with her beak. True to form, the instant the insides of the fruit met her tongue, her entire beak was enveloped in a burst of tangy goodness.

"Oh, mmmm, this is... really good!" she exclaimed between chews.

Blu gave a hearty swallow and replied, "Indeed, Jewel. There's a fiesta erupting in my beak right now!"

"Same here, handsome. Same here..."

For the next fifteen minutes, Blu and Jewel dined merrily on the juicy morsels, tantalized by the flavors. Jewel, after finishing her passion fruit, devoured a starfruit.

Blu then consumed his own passion fruit, and after popping the last chunk into his beak and swallowing, was distressed that there was no more to eat. Nonetheless, he pushed away the disconcerting feeling and licked his beak, mopping up any sugary fluid that happened to be concentrated there.

Blu scooted over to his mate and said, "Well, that's the end of that."

He then let out a large yawn, his entire body feeling overburdened and out of steam.

"I'm really tired, Jewel. Can we... go see Julius tomorrow?"

Blu began to amble over to his sleeping place, but Jewel froze him in his tracks by planting a foot on his tail. As he turned around, slightly bewildered, she drew close to him, rich breath flooding over his face.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" he asked, intrigued.

Shaking her head with shame, she replied, "Don't you remember, Blu? There's one last experience we have to share... before our lives are over."

Blu blinked several times, trying to process what Jewel was hinting at.

"What are you trying to... oh..."

A nervous glint sparkled in his eyes as he shuddered visibly.

Jewel placed her wings on his shoulders and asked, "Don't you want that, Blu? To share the most wonderful sensation on the planet... with me? Don't you want to mate with me... just one more time?"

Though it was far from the season of spring, Jewel's proximity to him, coupled with the way she was staring into his eyes, triggered a primal reaction in Blu. Her reasoning became clear to him, and he realized that yes, yes he did want to mate with her, the final biological coupling they would ever endure.

Relenting himself to the inner pleas of his body, he replied heartily, "Of course I do, Jewel. I can't leave this Earth without feeling every inch of your body... just this once. We haven't had sex in so long, I... forgot what it feels like."

"There's no better time to relive it than now, is there?"

"No."

Inching even closer to him, she said, "Let's find out..."

In one fluid motion, she pressed her beak up against his, allowing her tongue to flirt with his for a few seconds. She pulled back momentarily, then repeated her maneuver, going in slightly deeper. Once again, she pulled back, but then paused.

She was not feeling satisfied, and the reason why was quick to surface in her brain: her body was unaccustomed to the pleasure of the act, numbed from years of abstinence. She dolefully opened her eyes, finding herself staring at her mate's confused expression.

"Is something wrong, honey?" he tenderly asked.

Jewel let her wings fall down to her sides, her mood turning rotten.

"I'm just... not enjoying kissing you. I'm so old... and we haven't been intimate for _so long._ The pleasure's just not there."

This time, it was her mate who was keen to press the issue.

"Neither am I, Jewel, but all we have to do is keep trying. Our bodies are just rusty machines that need a dash of oil. We can turn things around. Please?"

Touched by his sincerity, she pushed hard against the internal numbness, revealing a deeper layer of pleasure yearning to be awakened. Grabbing hold of his shoulders once more, her reply came in the form of a deep kiss.

She gracefully wiped the inside of his beak with her tongue, leaving no surface untouched. She then guided her tongue to his, and the two saliva-coated snakes coiled around each other.

As the electricity coursed up and down their spines, it provided the sparks needed to ignite the long-dormant fires of eroticism and seduction deep in their souls. A rolling wave of heat surfaced in Blu and Jewel's mentalities as the fire grew, feeding off of the rich stimulation they were giving each other.

Jewel issued a stifled "Mmmm..." as her tongue continued to wrestle with Blu's. Feeling the need to draw more pleasure from the osculation, she wrapped her wings around his back and guided him over to the nearby wall. She friskily pressed him up against it, allowing no room for him to escape.

She terminated the kiss and gazed into his eyes, seeing nothing but pools of flaming love and sexual desire.

"It worked, my love." he whispered. "Now we can finally... satisfy each other... in every way possible."

"That is all I could ask for..."

Drawing in a deep breath, Jewel stoked the burning lust inside her by kissing Blu's neck. She licked his sleek feathers this way and that, nipping his neck sharply every so often. The pain he would have normally felt was converted to spikes of rich seduction, leaving him desperate for another nip.

"Ohhh yes, Jewel, that feels amazing!" he moaned, his eyes sealed shut from the intensity of the sensation.

By now, both his and Jewel's breathing accelerated, the rhythmic brushing of their chests adding to the power of the moment. Blu reached out with his wings and began rubbing them across Jewel's back, titillating his already elevated senses.

Wanting to hear his mate emit her own shouts of pleasure, he worked his right wing under her tail, sliding the primary feather tips around until they swept across her cloaca.

Blu felt her ritual cease and her back arch, accompanied by a seductive, "Blu... do that again!"

His left wing still caressing her spine, he traced out a small circle with his right, teasing her most sensitive area once again.

"Ohhh my... Blu... don't stop..." she panted desperately.

Blu leaned forward and began licking her neck sensually, all the while dazzling her secret flower with his continuous wing movements. Blu could detect the sound of her talons scraping the floor each time his wing united with her moist cloaca.

Through the pounding of his pulse in his head, he heard Jewel calling his name over and over, ecstasy the driving force behind her heavy moans and gushes. It only persuaded him to lick her saliva-coated neck that much longer, to rub her damp underside that much faster.

The way Blu was sliding his feathers over her bare, drooling flower blew her mind; the only words she could get out were: "Blu... oh Blu... I... mmmm..."

With each passing second, she felt herself slipping closer and closer to the point of orgasm, judging by the warm feeling spreading across her lower body. She was _so close_, but she wouldn't let Blu drive her wild so easily. He had taken her to the very precipice of sexual fulfillment, and now it was her turn to repay him for his erotic acts.

As her muscles tensed in preparation for the explosive climax, she forced herself away from him, breaking his grip rather quickly. As her body realized it was no longer being stimulated, it began to relax, if only slightly.

Nonetheless, her chest was still heaving from the effort, her heart thumping at a vigorous pace.

Blu donned a mask of disdain and muttered in between breaths, "What was... that for? I'm not done... with you yet!"

Putting on a devilish grin, she replied hotly, "It's my turn... to take you away, handsome."

Jewel shoved him off of his feet, the wall behind him serving to break his fall. He ended up with his back flush with the wood in a half-sitting position, his feet and tail spread out before him. His eyes grew wide with confusion, his mind unable to grasp his lover's intentions.

Jewel, after throwing him against the wall, tilted her gaze to his lower body. She spied the warm pink patch of his cloaca beckoning to her, slightly damp from his internal fluids.

In one brisk motion, she flung herself against the floor at his feet, her head in prime position to devour the most private patch of skin he owned. She carefully lowered her head, hovering an inch above the sensitive tissue before diving in.

"Jewel, what are you-"

Blu's sentence was cut off as Jewel's tongue grazed his flower, caressing the outer surface sensually.

As a mystifyingly erotic pulse rushed up Blus spine, he instinctively croaked, "Jewel... that feels... mmmm..."

Emboldened by his baritone utterance, she leaned down once again, allowing her snake of a tongue to rub the warm skin. She traced the outline of his cloaca slowly, revolving her oral organ along the oval border repeatedly Each time she completed an orbit, she felt his feet grasp her shoulders and then release.

After her third tracing, he thrust his wings upon her neck, forcing her head down even lower.

"Closer, Jewel. Deeper!" he begged.

With no other choice but to oblige, she rested her beak against the soft feathers between his legs, a damp pillow that granted her full access to his secret garden. Tempted by the slickness of his warm skin, she dug her tongue in as deep as she could, scrubbing his inner walls rhythmically.

Jewel's previous stimulation was nothing compared to this; Blu felt as though he was about to explode from the ethereal, boundless pleasure ignited inside him. He kept his feet locked on Jewel's shoulders and his wings upon her back, guaranteeing that she would continue to devour him.

His back arching reflexively to maximize the glorious feeling, he cried his mate's name over and over.

"Jewel... ohhhh Jewel... you must... keep going!"

Following his dire order, she decided to switch tactics. Instead of swirling her saliva-doused appendage around, she withdrew it halfway, then plunged it back in, extending it as far as possible.

Blu, upon feeling Jewel's new style of oral, felt himself melting from the unreal signals his nerves were sending his brain. It was as if an ecstasy-soaked sponge was plunging in and out of his cloaca, a smooth rhythm that drove him insane.

"Ahhh... Jewel... you're... killing me!"

He prayed dearly that he would forever remain under his lovebird's sexual spell, but at the same time, he could feel his muscles growing tight in preparation for his wondrous orgasm.

Forcing his eyes open, he stared down at his mate's squirming head and cried: "Jewel... stop! I'm about to..."

He need not finish his sentence for Jewel to understand, and hastily, she jerked her head away, her beak dripping with fluid.

"Lie down... my love..." he ordered dizzily.

Blu drank in the lust and energy filling Jewel's eyes before she complied, tipping backwards and meeting the floor of the stuffy hollow with a dull thud. Eager to experience the timeless fury of an orgasm in time with his mate, he hopped over to her liquid-matted body.

Balancing himself carefully on her stomach – a maneuver made all the more difficult by his hazy senses and racing metabolism – he gazed lovingly at Jewel's face and asked, "Are you comfortable, my sexual goddess?"

Blu's feet pricked the skin beneath her belly feathers, but it was more scintillating than irritating. Blu's weight did put pressure on her stomach, but it was easily bearable.

"Of course I am. I need to feel you, Blu. I want you to make this a night... I'll never forget."

Nodding his head gently, he replied, "Anything for you, I will do..."

Immediately following his proclamation, Blu scooted forward so that his cloaca merged with Jewel's. A physiological response unlike anything they had previously endured erupted from their loins, made audible by the twin grunts they emitted.

"Wow, Jewel, that was... lovely..."

"Blu, you feel... so good!"

Jewel then brought her wings up and fastened them around her mate's neck, pulling his head very close to hers.

"Do it, Blu. Show me... your naughty side."

Wordlessly, he planted his beak against Jewel's tenderly, augmented by a calculated jerk of his hips. As his sensitive spot contacted Jewel's, he was stunned by how warm and damp it was, a living sea of pleasing skin yearning to be touched.

He maintained the stimulation by swaying back and forth, his pleasure spiking in time with his movements. Each time he pulled away from Jewel's enticing skin, a deep-seated force caused him to push against it again, not wanting to spend even a few seconds apart from it.

After nearly a minute of thrusting his hips, he changed directions, wiggling side to side. Delirious fire scorched his lower body as his cloaca slid over Jewel's, the most powerful feeling he had been subjected to as of late.

He broke their persistent kiss to moan, "That feels... _so good! _Ohhh Jewel, I... can't get enough..."

Indeed, she was enthralled just as fully as he, and maybe even more so. She assisted her mate by lifting her hips of the floor each time he writhed, driving their wet skin together for even longer periods of time.

By now, Jewel's breathing was cycling at a rapid pace, seemingly dangerous for someone as old as she. Trapped in the heat of the moment, she didn't care. She was making sweet love with the bird she adored most in the world, the bird who was sexually satisfying her beyond her wildest imaginings.

That teetering feeling from earlier was slowly rising in intensity, a silent signal that her biological enjoyment was nearing its breaking point.

She felt compelled to let Blu know that her orgasm was nearing, but she couldn't speak without moaning: "I'm close to... my climax... Blu..."

As his mate's telling words funneled into his ears, he too detected his sexual release approaching.

"So am I. Ohhh yes... it's... it's..."

He froze his movement, his muscles remarkably tense. He opened his eyes slowly and peered down at Jewel. Seeing that lustful, primed look in her eyes told him she was ready, ready to lose all control.

He leaned down quickly for one final kiss and, as his beak met Jewel's, he squeezed his throbbing cloaca against his mate's. In that instant, his musculature pulsing as waves of indescribable lust and sexual energy pulsed over his body.

"Jewel, I'm... I'm... ohhh yes, ohhh yes!"

Moments after his orgasm took hold, Jewel in turn began squirming about beneath him, crushing him against her body as forcefully as she could.

"This is... Blu, I can't... oh God Blu!"

As Jewel's marvelous cries of erotic delight echoed in his brain, something entirely new occurred deep inside him. As he shivered in time with his systemic jerks, he sensed a sticky river of fluid flowing out of him, pouring into Jewel's system in the process.

After all of twenty seconds, the euphoric orgasms had concluded for both birds, in order for their strained bodies to recover. Blu, suddenly feeling like jelly, toppled off of his mate, landing heavily to the right of her.

Blu found himself looking up at the ceiling, but after a few seconds of silence, Jewel's honey-like voice called to him: "Blu, we've never had sex like that ever before. Thank you. I feel... loved. I feel... complete."

He tilted his head to get a better look at her, his reply interspersed with residual pants: "As do I, my eternal angel. I'll never forget this night, whether in this life or the next. Once and for all... I love you."

"I love you too..."

Completely exhausted and unwilling to spoil the afterglow of their sexual escapade, they snuggled closer together. They supported their consciousness for a few more minutes, finally fading away to the realm of dreams.

They had engaged in the most unifying, powerful act known to man, affirming their boundless love for one another for as long as they both shall live. Due to the fact that machines they would soon become, their love would persist indefinitely, until the end of time itself.

As far as Blu and Jewel were concerned, they had forged an unbreakable bond of devotion between their spirits, and so long as that bond remained intact, forever happy they would be.

When Blu and Jewel awoke the next morning, quite a surprise awaited them: their undersides, not to mention their faces and necks, were caked with a dried-up, chalky residue. It was a clear reminder of the provocative nature of the previous night, and as they studied each other, they grew very coy.

After graciously cleaning themselves up by preening, they quickly contemplated all that they had accomplished in the recent days. Their children had been duly notified of the choice to end their lives, and they had enjoyed one last dose of sex, something that would eventually be out of the question.

As such, they felt truly ready to leave their degraded bodies and so, without even bothering to eat breakfast, they departed from their tree and streaked over to Julius's headquarters.

After forcing their way into the interior via one of many open windows, they alighted in the deathly-quiet main workspace, which was formerly Linda and Tulio's living room.

"Huh," said Blu oddly, "Julius and his buddies are usually up by this hour. They must still be sleeping."

"I think we should go and wake them. I, for one, am ready to die already! Man, I never thought I'd be saying that. It sounds so... negative."

Blu gave a light chuckle at her quite-truthful statement. "You are correct, Jewel, but this is the year 2075. Reality isn't what is used to be. Now come on, let's go wake our superiors."

"Right. I'll follow your lead."

Blu scampered off towards the rear of the building with Jewel close behind, entering a long, dim hallway lined with doors. He shivered, for the creepy passageway reminded him of a particular scene in _The Shining._

Each door bore a silver plate emblazoned with the name of its inhabitant. Blu ambled quickly down the hall, since Julius's quarters lay at the very end. During his journey, he half-expected a lunatic Jack Nicholson to bust through one of the oak doors and yell "Here's Johnny!"

Stifling his nerves, he eventually came upon the target door, the last one on the left.

He waited for his mate to join him, at which point he rapped on the wood with his beak and muttered, "Julius! It's me, Blu, and I have Jewel here with me. We're ready to undergo your transfer operation!"

Faint ruffling sounds issued from behind the closed door, followed by a loud crashing and banging. Blu and Jewel grew tense, wondering what on Earth was going down that could cause such racket.

The female hopped backwards cautiously, while the male remained stoically rooted in place. Without warning, the door flew open, but both Blu and Julius seemed to have forgotten that it swiveled not inwards, but outwards.

Blu received a generous blow to the chest and forehead simultaneously by the edge of the door, tossing him forcefully against the opposite wall.

"Oh my God!" shouted Jewel, "Blu, are you alright?"

She scurried the few feet over to him, who lay folded awkwardly on the gray carpet.

"Hello? Blu, wake up. Wake up!"

Seeing the error of his ways, Julius bent down and scooped up Blu's still form, patting him gently on the back in an effort to bring back his consciousness.

Jewel cast the perpetrator a harsh glare as he did so.

"Lovely, Julius. You just knocked him out!"

"I'm sorry, Jewel. I tripped over a pile of computers, and as I fell, I grabbed onto the doorknob. You can guess what happened next."

"I guess that's a valid explanation."

As Julius turned his focus back to the male macaw in his hands, he noted a thin scarlet line on his forehead.

"Well, I split Blu's head open just a little. He's bleeding."

"More good news! Just wake him up, so that we can get this over with. He's not a machine just yet, Julius. He's not invincible."

After one more minute of patting, along with a few bouts of shaking, Blu awoke. His wings immediately shot up to his skull, as if trying to remove an illusory vice.

"Damn... what is wrong with _my head?_"

Once again, Julius apologized, tossing in a brief explanation of the mishap.

"I'm sorry, buddy, but I tripped and fell in there, opening the door by accident. Do you feel any brain damage? We've got a serious problem on our hands if you do."

"N-no, I'm f-fine. I j-just have a headache from H-Hell."

"I suppose that's a relief. How about I take you to the transfer room, before you somehow get injured again?"

"Fine b-by me. I am r-ready to be c-cured of mortal weakness."

The brown-haired man nodded and placed Blu on his outstretched right arm. He then plucked Jewel off the ground and plastered her next to the wounded male.

"Don't worry, Blu, you'll have nothing to worry about in about an hour or so."

He gripped onto Jewel for support, feeling mightily dazed and in pain.

"Can somebody get me some aspirin? How about some morphine?"

Eager to bring to fruition three decades of grueling study and experimentation, he hustled them into the confines of his lab, a cluttered space littered with documents, electronics, and wiring.

Julius motioned for them to hop onto the cold steel table and stay put. After jumping from his arm, they gazed up at him with twin expressions of readiness.

"Let me wake the necessary members of my team, and then we'll get started. You'll be born again in no time, I assure you both."

He then dashed from the room, his wrinkled lab coat flowing out behind him.

Blu and Jewel turned away from the door and scanned the room, keeping their eyes peeled for any intriguing objects. Almost instantly, a distorted sheet of material sitting on a far counter caught their attention. Whatever lay concealed beneath the grayish tarp appeared quite large, consuming nearly all of the counter's area.

"What's that, Blu? I don't recall seeing that before."

"Let's go check it out, shall we?"

Having mildly recovered from his headache, he strutted to the edge of the table, crossing the gap between it and the shelf with a short series of wing-strokes. Jewel touched down shortly after, her talons clicking loudly on the exposed steel.

Blu fastened his beak onto a free edge of the sheet, but try as he might, he lacked the fortitude to remove it.

Without relinquishing his grip, he grumbled, "Could you help me out, honey?"

Jewel chose a spot next to Blu and pinched the sheet with her beak.

"One, two, three, pull!" chanted Blu inspirationally.

They jerked backwards over and over, and the gray cloth began slipping.

"It's working, honey! Don't stop."

"No problem, Blu."

The focused macaw couple spent over a full minute heaving the silken load, aware of of the growing ease with which it moved. As they paused to rest, they noticed a large portion of the cloth hanging over the counter's edge.

"I say we give it a final tug and let gravity take over." stated Blu.

After fastening the heavy drapery in their beaks, they wrenched their heads to the left. As the shroud flowed from the counter, piling messily on the tile floor, Blu and Jewel observed with utter awe at the objects resting in front of them.

Two imposing figures tinted a lustrous silver hue sat side by side, their shapes uncannily familiar. Blu, his beak nearly touching the counter, stuttered, "It's... it's us! Two metal birds, modeled perfectly in our image. Julius and his buddies are nothing short of geniuses. I can't wait to become one of them!"

Enthralled by the crisp outlines and crafted beauty of the artifacts, Jewel brusquely walked up to the closer of the two. Reaching out bravely with her right foot, she tapped what appeared to be the wing of the figure three times. A trio of dull thuds was heard, signifying that the bird was not entirely hollow.

Jewel tilted her head back to better observe the upper half. The head was nestled nearly a foot and a half above Jewel's own, and as she studied its features, she realized it was hers.

As Blu crawled up on her left side, she said, "Blu, this one's mine. It looks just like me. It's marvelous!"

"No kidding! I'm going to go take a peek at mine."

Jewel took a few steps to the right and climbed on to the tail, a quick visual comparison revealing that its length was nearly double that of hers. Buzzing with excitement inside, she stalked up the rigid spine, turning to her right as she heard Blu knock on the second body.

Her elevated vantage point gave her a lovely view of Blu's larger-than-life shell, which rose just as tall as hers.

"Well, what do you think, Blu?"

"What do _I _think?" he replied incredulously, "I think Julius is a mastermind! He, a mere mortal, has replicated a fascinating creation in my image. He, a mere mortal, has designed for me an alternate body, an iron shell that will forever be my sanctuary!"

His chest swelling with adoration, Blu hurriedly made his way onto the bird's back, perching like a kingly human.

All of a sudden, a gruff voice snagged Blu and Jewel's attention: "I see you've found your future bodies! Not to boast, but I believe they resemble you both perfectly."

The man himself strode into the room, trailed by five groggy humans. The head researcher then moved away from the entrance to allow the others in, ending up to the left of the shelf the coy macaws were on.

As the lesser-ranked scientists clustered around the perimeter of the central island, the macaws were scooped up by their caretaker and set down in the middle of the human ring. The encircling beings rubbed their eyes repeatedly, donning expressions that were a fusion of irritation and elation.

"Well, this it it, my friends. The end of the line..."

Blu and Jewel rotated around in the direction of the baritone voice, only to be met by Julius's outstretched hands. Blu and Jewel received adoration-rich pats on the head, augmented by a few brief scratches under their beaks. They gazed up at the towering man proudly, only shreds of fear darkening their eyes.

"Are you ready?" he asked sternly.

Blu cast a questioning look at Jewel, who nodded solemnly in response.

"I believe so, my friend. Escort us to a more noble existence."

The female pulled the male closer and added, "Promise that you'll take care of us. Promise that everything will go smoothly. Of course we trust you, but our lives are in your hands now."

He knelt down on one knee, bringing himself to eye level with Blu and Jewel.

With a deep voice, he said, "I promise. Nothing malicious or unplanned will happen to either of you. You have my absolute _word._"

He received a pair of warm smiles in return, and he couldn't help but form one of his own.

With that, he rose to a standing position and asked, "Stacy, the R66 syringes, please."

"Here you go. I hope you can catch."

The mellow macaws watched as Stacy tossed two syringes in Julius's direction. He reached out and caught them gently, creating a _clink_ sound as the glass syringes touched.

"Would you like to say any final words before we euthanize you?" Julius asked softly.

Jewel tapped her foot on the table a few times and said, "I feel honored to call you my friends. You helped Blu and I move forwards in the wake of Tulio and Linda's death. It's like we've become a second family, united in order to accomplish a common goal. I sincerely thank every one of you for all that you've done. If you can do my mate and I the favor of easing our transition from this life to the next, please do. Take care of us."

Stacy, Drake, Tom, Karen, and Fred chanted, "No problem, dear Jewel."

Blu cleared his throat and said, "This may sound wrong, but do not inform our children of what has occurred to us or allow them to see us. We told them that we will meet again in due time. They need not be traumatized any more than is necessary. I have one last thing to say..."

Blu then turned to Jewel and placed his wings upon her shoulders.

"My sweet Jewel, though we will only be separated for a few hours, I will be praying constantly for those few hours to pass swiftly. Whether I am a carbon-based life-form or a mechanical conglomerate, I shall never cease to love you."

With tears welling up in his eyes, he planted a tender kiss on her beak that lasted for many amorous seconds.

Jewel's eyes grew damp as he pulled away, and she muttered, "I'll never stop loving you either, Blu. My life was never complete until I met you, and I will forever remain faithful to you. I can't survive without you, but thanks to Julius, I won't have to worry about that any longer."

All five humans uttered cooing sounds in the wake of the display, the air growing thick with heartfelt love.

Blu then turned around 180 degrees, his eyes landing on the syringes brimming with clear liquid.

"Go ahead, friend. Bring our earthly lives to a close."

He gripped one of the glass containment units and lowered it towards Blu, aiming the glistening needle tip at his chest. Blu grew immediately nervous, taking a few tentative steps away from the needle.

Jewel was there to reassure him, halting his retreat by laying a wing upon his back.

"Relax, Blu, everything will be fine."

His agitation was dimmed by his mate's calming words, but he still closed his eyes as the steel lancet inched toward him. A piercing burn gripped his senses as the steel found its mark, followed by the injection of a comparatively cool substance.

"Oh, that hurts! Please hurry, Julius..." he panted.

Working quickly, he shot the rest of the R66 into Blu's system, then administered the second dose to Jewel. She squeezed Blu tightly to battle to pain spike, but relaxed as the strange medication flooded her veins.

Julius set the empty syringes on the table and stroked the macaws one final time.

"Farewell, Blu and Jewel. This is goodbye, for now..."

The mated pair of birds locked eyes with each other, dripping tears as the serum carried out its grim function.

Blu was the first to lose control of his body, collapsing onto the counter, immobile, but still conscious. Jewel toppled over shortly after, ending up next to Blu, her face inches from his.

As the surface of the table between them collected their tears into a steadily-enlarging pool, Blu whispered, "I... love you. See you soon... honey..."

Before a gooey blackness stole over her vision, she squeaked, "As do I, handsome..."

Neither macaw spoke another word as their damp eyes slid shut, two final smiles frozen on their faces.

Julius and his colleagues waited in depressed silence for three minutes, giving the serum ample time to rob Blu and Jewel's lives.

After those tense few minutes were up, the lead researcher lifted the male from the table, pressing his thumb against the skin above Blu's heart.

He initially felt a constant throbbing, as if the tiny organ was still functional, but when he removed his thumb, it vanished. He then realized that he was feeling his own pulse, and that Blu was no longer alive.

A quick check revealed that Jewel had also passed on, causing a sickening sensation to well in his gut.

After forcing the dread back down, lest it bring tears to his ocular organs, he declared, "They're both... gone. Let's get to work, team."

"Right." they responded in unison.

All six humans began milling about in the room, firing up all manner of computer stations and blocky machines. A buzzing noise resounded soon after as a micro-sized bone saw was brought to life. Steered by Julius's expert hands, its whirling blade dined on Blu's tiny cranium, sending powdered bone dust, shredded feathers, and drops of blood into the air...

* * *

><p>I, after feeling my life slip away, my heart stop beating, ended up in a strange realm that most would call Heaven.<p>

However, just as I began to appreciate the lost world that only the deceased could see, I was unfairly pulled out of that mystical universe. I felt as though I had been gifted with a new sense of consciousness, a new sense of life.

After fully grasping the otherworldly feeling, I realized that I held the power to end my imprisonment. Gripped with a deeply surreal sensation, I forced myself to carry out a task that would hopefully banish the blackness from my vision: open my eyes.

Although I felt like nothing more than a wandering, limbless, shapeless spirit, something deep within me complied to my silent decree. I felt a small spark of electricity course up my spine, so faint that it nearly went unnoticed.

As I waited for some sort of response, a blinding rush of color and light surged into my senses, illuminating them rapidly. As I adjusted to the photon-laden assault, an alien sight greeted me.

Tropical trees stretched away in every direction, surrounded by leafy plant matter and fruit-bearing bushes. Somehow, a flash of remarkable intuition screamed in my mind the word "Jungle."

"_Okay,_" I thought smoothly, "_I'm in the jungle. Now what?_"

Detecting a tactile input from a point below me, I ordered myself to look down. That faint jolt of energy returned as my body complied, and as soon as I caught sight of a pair of zygodactyl appendages supporting me, a stunning mental explosion took me away.

"I'm... I'm... alive! This is a miracle unlike any other!" I shouted, wholly unable to restrain the infinite jubilation drowning my spirit.

I extended my right foot forward to better study its features, flexing my four toes out of sheer curiosity. I was momentarily shocked to see four greatly-enlarged, deadly-sharp blades where my talons used to reside, but that only added to my perpetual excitement.

"Amazing..." I whispered, though the awe was still evident in my voice.

Plopping my vicious-looking foot back down, I looked to my left, spying a sheen of blue coating my wing. Upon recognizing the filament-decorated texture, along with the way the slight breeze ruffled them, I realized they were feathers. My own feathers!

"_What the hell? How is this possible?_" I screeched mentally.

Hit with a second blow of confusion, I stretched my wing out to the maximum, freezing it in a horizontal position. Reaching around with my left flying appendage, I gracefully stroked the underside of my right, still clueless as to how such a modification could be performed.

The filament-upon-filament contact incited a ticklish feeling all over my body, and I found myself suppressing a burst of laughter. I mentally cataloged the fact that my wings were feather-adorned, but what of the rest of my body?

Assuming that my mechanized structure was as close to normal avian biology as possible, I craned my head around to try and observe my back and tail.

Mortified was I when my body remained in place, while my neck and head rotated 180 degrees cleanly. I whirled my head back around to its natural position, deeply shocked at my ability.

"_An owl-like neck! How creepy! Is there anything else I can do that breaks the mold?_"

Shaking away the unrest, I swiveled my head back around, providing me a very proper view of my entire back and tail. True to form, a youthful array of aquamarine feathers swathed every inch, right up to the terminus of my glorious, extensive tail.

Visually computing its length, I pinpointed the value at two feet. Deep inside me, I sensed a spark that convinced me I was right, as if some electronic device was certain of the answer.

I thought about wiggling my tail, and to my surprise, it split apart into an array of seven metal blades, each two inches wide. At my command, they re-melded into one unified structure, the separate blades overlapping with extreme precision.

I fanned my tail out again, determining the angle between the outermost flaps to be 30 degrees even.

"_A tail that functions like a modified airplane rudder. How ingenious! Can it rotate as well?_"

Eager to test my theory, I sent a mental rotation signal down to my appendage. With a clockwork clicking noise, it rotated to the left 30 degrees, tilted back to its normal position, then swiveled to the right 30 degrees as well.

"_Indeed it does! Now, what else should I attempt?_"

I restored my tail and faced forwards again, noting that I was firmly on the ground in a small grove.

"I should try walking first, just to be safe."

Milliseconds later, my feet escorted me at a slow pace across the grove, and walking felt completely natural, despite my altered body. My feet moved with the fluidity of ice upon ice, issuing not a sound.

My five-inch talons did scrape the damp earth slightly, leaving shallow furrows in the soil, but my movement was not impeded in any way.

I jogged one complete circuit around the inner perimeter of the grove, feeling pleased that I had mastered control over my new-and-improved feet.

"_I suppose flying is the only logical choice now. Birds are meant not for the earth, but for the sky. Here goes nothing!_"

Spreading my wings like a phoenix, I observed that they were impressively large, a fact that gave me slight pause.

"_Hmmm. My extensive wingspan must imply that my weight is comparatively high. Why else would Julius give them so much surface area to generate lift?_"

I brought my grandiose wings to a near vertical position and pumped them down forcefully. Aside from rustling the nearby plants with the turbulence, no other effects materialized.

Once again, I lifted my wings, flapping them twice in a row this time around. My spirits soared when my feet were lifted off of the ground – if only by a few inches.

"_Come on, Blu! You learned how to fly once, you can do it again!_" I urged myself silently.

Feeling a light breeze flow through the grove gave me all the inspiration I needed. I pointed my wing-tips toward the sky one final time, bringing them rapidly downwards and flapping them nonstop.

The dead weight of my body became evident as I departed from the earth, the pull of gravity threatening to bring me down, withdraw me from my element. I drove myself even harder as a result, beating my tungsten carbide wings mightily.

I focused on one stroke after another – and after counting of twenty of them – my eyesight granted me a marvelous sight: I was hovering in place above the grove, the lush undergrowth of the surrounding rain-forest beckoning to me.

Swamped by a surge of pride, I tilted my wings to provide directional thrust before zooming off to the east. The rush of the air upon my feathered metal body as I careened through the warm air was nothing short of spectacular.

I streaked this way and that, dodging whatever trees or vines happened to be in my way without losing a hint of speed. It was as though I had flown all my life, the instinct fresh in my blood – or in this case, my wiring.

I wheeled, looped and dived for what seemed like an eternity. Gone were the protests of my former shell, with its energy restrictions and need for rest.

If I truly wanted, I could fly forever, circumnavigate the globe in one direct trip. Such an undertaking was far from ludicrous, but I possessed no inclination to pursue it at any time in the foreseeable future.

After consuming ten minutes of daylight swooping around, I chose an appreciable landing spot, which happened to be the bough of a cannonball tree. I expertly braked during my descent by fanning out my tail, the drag it induced easily felt by my fine-tuned senses.

I clenched the branch tightly as I landed, the scythe-like set of talons on my feet scoring into the wood. I folded my wings against my body moments before a groaning sound filled my ears. Before I could even react, the branch split to the left of me, splintering under my excessive weight.

The drop to the ground was not far, and so I felt no reason to halt my fall, but I scorned myself for not doing so upon impact with the mossy turf.

I further smashed the bough as my legs sunk into my stomach like shock absorbers, but the sudden deceleration literally left my metal shell vibrating. It was a profoundly unnerving and pesky sensation, and I vowed to never endure it again.

"_Geez, that was a rough landing! For being such an intelligent bird, I made a really uneducated choice. Now, let's see. Where should I go? Who should I converse with?_"

As I pondered these thoughts, a glaring reality made itself known: I was obviously forgetting that there was one other being like me. In all my excitement, the bird of my dreams had been unable to penetrate my mind.

As I instantly crafted a mental image of her, I made it my sole mission to seek her out, to lay eyes on her true, tangible form. A burning sense of urgency scorched my mind; I absolutely demanded to see her again, to hold her again.

I highly doubted that anything could dissuade me from carrying out my task.

Now that I was gifted with the prowess of everlasting flight, I quickly took to the skies, beginning what could be the most important, defining search of my life.

My initial fervor to locate my hopefully-living mate persisted for nearly half an hour, but turned sour after not much longer.

I avoided going to the lab simply because Julius had most likely left Jewel out in the jungle as well, to allow her to condition herself on her own. Adding to that fact was that perhaps he felt a private reunion between us was important, and that he was confident we would discover each other in time.

My best guess was that she had adopted that same reasoning with respect to me, and so we were both engaged in a mutual search for our soul mate.

My usage of the sun's angle to calculate the passage of time was quite efficient, and as my positive drive turned into frustration after an hour's worth of searching, I zoomed to the ground to contemplate my options.

"_I might as well drop by the lab and see if any of them know of Jewel's whereabouts._"

Before consigning myself to a defeat at the hands of fate, I stared up at the clouds and shrieked, "Jewel? Where are you, honey? I can't find you! If you can hear me, follow my voice!"

Nothing but the symphony of the breeze and the jungle fauna was audible in the wake of my pleas. Shaking my head with disappointment, I launched myself into the clear blue sky.

Shortly after takeoff, a burst of sound down below caused me to abandon my flight. My vision raked the area all around me after I returned to the foliage-littered ground, scanning for the source of the disturbance.

True, I had nothing to fear from any would-be predator, but my advanced gut was telling me that I was being watched, stalked. I immediately switched into a defensive mode, crouching down low until my chest flirted with the soil.

"This isn't funny. Whoever is hiding, cease and desist!"

Another spike in the noise level resounded behind me, and so I whirled around, peering past the trunk of an aged cannonball tree. The foliage was devoid of any movement, and so I taunted, "Come out! I'm serious!"

Yet another audible din surfaced, bringing me back to my former position, my body oriented away from the tree.

I took a pronounced step towards a star-fruit bush, and was then promptly barreled into by a swift blue orb.

The blow rendered me airborne, the momentum carrying me backwards at least ten feet. Needless to say, a quite-solid obstacle brought me to an abrupt stop: the cannonball tree's base.

Hesitantly, I switched my vision back on again, and above me lay the most heart-wrenching sight imaginable: Jewel.

Before I could acknowledge her, however, the earth beneath me trembled. As a deep crackling sound emanated from behind me, I stared at the sky behind Jewel's head, spying the full length of the tree on its way to the earth.

The ground shook once more as the massive plant slammed into the ground, sending broken branches and cascades of leaves everywhere. Thankfully, the tree came to rest a few feet behind Jewel, its splintered trunk almost butting up against her.

Stunned by her appearance and odd way of greeting me, I stuttered, "Uh, its great to see you too, Jewel! Too bad the tree didn't fare so well..."

Instantly turning sheepish, she replied coyly, "I must not know my own strength yet! But that's beside the point."

After flashing an apologetic glance at her victim, she turned back to me and declared, "Oh Blu, I've missed you so much! Julius left me alone in the jungle, and after learning how to control myself, I came looking for you. The sad part is, I couldn't find you for over thirty minutes! I ultimately gave up, but then I heard you calling my name. I raced over here as fast as I could, and the rest is history."

She then helped me into a standing position and crushed me in a death-grip style hug. Aside from the strain she was putting on my back, it was one of the most succulent embraces she had ever given me. I returned the hug with an equal amount of force, then stepped back one pace and looked into her eyes.

She no longer possessed the standard ocular organs, rather her eyes were two perfectly-shaped slots, burning brightly with an intense blue light.

"_So that's what my eyes look like. Is there no end to my creator's skill and design potential? I have many, many, questions to ask him before this day is done..._"

Jewel's glowing vision centers reminded me of the way Aang's eyes glowed in _Avatar_ when he called upon his powers, a feature that would never cease to thrill me.

As I continued to stare into those pools of blue light, I felt myself being drawn into them, swallowed up in the pure color.

I was torn from my reverie by her honey-sweet voice, that very special tone that I could never forget: "Blu, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Shaking my head in a blur of motion, I replied, "Nothing, my dear. I'm just fine. All this is... so much to take in right now!"

"Oh, it'll take time to get used to, but you're right, it _is_ crazy. We're basically immortal, Blu! Sure, I don't think swimming is an option, but unless the military decides to take us on, I bet that nothing can hurt us!"

With a mocking tone, I chided, "We can rightfully test your theory, Jewel. How about we head over the city and wait for a Class K3 hover-truck to run into us?"

Jewel quivered with laughter, barely managing to reply, "Ha ha, I don't think so! That's one good way to attract the attention of Rio's flight security team. Remember, nobody outside of the lab even knows we exist. I say we let Julius and his cohorts take care of that. Speaking of Julius, why don't we drop by and see if he can help us learn more about _ourselves?_"

I nodded in agreement, since that was the most plausible option I could think of. Shortly after that thought, another sprung into my head.

"Jewel, I say let's not stay too long at the lab. Our kids need to see that we're alive and well. God only knows how confused and worried they must be right now."

"I have to agree with you there. One hour tops, and then we'll leave. I'm sure our creator won't mind."

"Correct, my love. Now, I'll race you to the sanctuary. One, two, three, go!"

I sprang into flight and took off, hearing my mate's protest of "Hey, no fair! Just wait until I catch you!"

If her bodily assault minutes earlier was anything to go by, I surely did not want her to get within wing-reach of me. Therefore, I flapped even faster, the foliage around me reduced to a uniform blur of color.

It was then I realized I wasn't even flying in the direction of the renovated sanctuary, and an immediate course correction was in order. Divining its whereabouts based on my current location, I prepared myself for a wild maneuver.

I deployed my tail and swiveled it to the right, executing a vicious banking turn that would have broken a normal bird's wings. As soon as I came out of the turn, my left wing clipped a protruding branch that happened to lay in my path.

As the sturdy leading edge of my wing met the wood, it severed it cleanly. I suffered no aftereffects from the minor collision, but I could plainly feel Jewel's wing-beats approaching.

"You're dead meat, Blu!"

"Not likely!" I screeched back, driving myself even harder to break away from her.

While blazing a trail through the rain-forest, my mate hot on my tail, I knew that I could not be more pleased, more content. Jewel and I were together once again, and more importantly, free from the fetters of weakness that biology placed upon normal living creatures.

No longer having to fear the prospects of sickness and death, our second lives were truly complete, truly uplifting. Before long, our six offspring would become an integral part of that fabric. A family of supreme beings, borne from the most humble, grueling circumstances.

In truth, we would become that and more, _so much more_...

* * *

><p>Blu and Jewel's visit to the lab proved to be a wise choice, for Julius and his team satisfied their quest for knowledge fully. He described to them the receptacle that held the encoded information extracted from their brains, deeming it a Scion.<p>

That tiny sphere in their chests held a top-of-the-line processor and data-storage bank, equivalent to an office building's worth of storage and computation power. In essence, as they soaked up whatever was told to them, it became a permanent part of their minds.

As they learned, so did their Scions, meaning that their intelligence was constantly being revised, expanded. There was practically no limit to how smart they could become, a notion that thrilled Blu and Jewel equally.

Every aspect of their bodies were directly controlled by the Scions as well, by means of durable wiring barely a millimeter in thickness. The total length of wiring in each of their bodies amounted to an astounding thirty-five miles.

Nonetheless, Julius told them, 90% of their mass was attributed to their two inch thick bodies – given the technical name of "Shells" – composed of pure tungsten carbide. Their six-foot wingspans were needed to establish enough lift to allow them to become airborne.

Blu and Jewel learned that a miniature hydrogen fusion reactor inside their heads provided the electrical power to run their Scions. The wiring that flowed from the reactor – aptly named a "Core" – passed through the Scion and then connected with the mechanical joints and servos, allowing them to function as thirty-five miles of thin cable thus functioned as both an electrical conduit and control channel.

Their eyes were screens modeled after LCD technology, yet massively more advanced. The macaws saw their world normally, as if using a HUD, but on the outside, the eyes glowed due to the power provided by the Core.

The hue of their eyes was a direct measure of the Core's power level, which would fade over the period of a decade. The Core could be replaced within minutes, a trivial action at most.

Most intriguing of all was the addition of the feathers to their bodies, which Blu and Jewel were desperate to discover more about. Samuel, the master of the adornment, informed the macaws that all he did was skin their old bodies, and then grow the solid piece sheet of tissue until it was large enough to veil their new bodies.

The sheet of feathers was then attached to the Shell's bare surface by means of cauterizing, in which the underside of the tissue was fused to the substrate by application of intense heat.

Even though the tissue was no longer living – which meant that the feathers would not be shed and renewed – Samuel had treated them for hours in a protective bath of chemicals. Those chemicals had been absorbed into the feathers, providing them with unnatural resistance to wear and tear.

Their artificial skin would have to be replaced once per year, but it was a simple procedure.

Blu and Jewel were enlightened tons of information, but they did not dare forget the set-in-stone reunion they had planned with their children.

After Julius and his team came to an appreciable stopping point in their conversation with the macaws, the avian duo fled the research building.

As expected, words were in short supply on the younger macaws' end.

Tears of joy, however, stained the ground from six pairs of eyes, and Blu and Jewel soon joined in the lachrymose affair. When the children were finally able to speak, they uttered phrases of bewilderment, joy, and most of all, love.

Separated from their up-bringers for a full day and night, they could not have been any happier to embrace with their dearly-missed parents. After emotions finally simmered down, Blu and Jewel took the time to graciously explain every facet of the recent events they endured.

They began with their individual memories of awakening for the first time, fitting in with their new designs, and their reunion with each other, concluding the chat regarding the deep discussion with the humans who had made it all possible.

Rendered silent for a second time, the still-ordinary macaws hugged Blu and Jewel tenderly. Spirits were high among the six macaws and their modified superiors, who could draw an infinite amount of joy from merely being close to their six little miracles...

* * *

><p>Only one mere week after Blu and Jewel were transformed, the process was repeated with each of their six progeny, uniting the macaw family in the most inseparable of ways. Now that all was well with the eight birds, they finally were able to relax and lead much more serene lives.<p>

In the years that followed, Blu, Jewel, and their offspring occupied themselves by studying heavily whichever topics interested them. The small store of books trapped in the lab was quickly exhausted, and, five years after Blu and Jewel's renaissance, Julius and nine of his fellow scientists embarked on a globe-trotting adventure.

The remaining ten scientists kept themselves rooted in Rio, thinking up new improvements that could be applied to the macaws, in the manner of updates.

All eight macaws tagged along with Julius and the others, for they were the real stars of the show. It was high time that the entire planet learned of the team's remarkable work and just-as-insane results. The band of brothers kept things local for one year, hopping around from place to place in South America.

Garnering much support from all of the researchers and enthusiasts they encountered, they had set the stage to burst out onto the scene. Naturally, the next visitation site was Mexico, and it was there that things got serious for the roving gang.

Deep in Mexico City, a stubborn drug lord named Ignacio "Iggy" Sandoval was working furiously to keep his cartel alive, battling the Mexican police and federal agents as they cut off his suppliers and captured his top buyers.

The struggle hit close to home for the robotic macaws.

While they and their scientist caretakers were chatting on the street with a group of amazed policemen, a drive-by shooting left two of those officers dead. Karen, Tom, and Fred were hit and rushed to the hospital.

Vengeance flowed into the systems of their fellow scientists, as well as the macaws' mentalities.

Seeing a chance to physically _prove_ Blu and Jewel's worth, rather than simply showing them off at science meets and research labs, Julius requested to have the macaws inducted into the fight.

Impressed with the idea and hellbent to end the loss of his people's lives, the Mexican president agreed, and the two Spix's Macaws met with the top federal officials to be briefed on the situation.

The younger macaws were excluded, the reason being that they absolutely need not be subjected to the rigors and horror of death that the operation called for.

Blu and Jewel's vast capacity to soak up knowledge and analyze it on the fly amazed the assault squads, and needless to say, the avian duo were deemed the operation's key players. They were tasked with ensnaring the drug lord and killing anyone else with deadly force.

On the day of May 20th, as part of a high-level strategy, nearly all of the Mexican Government's forces retreated as Blu and Jewel were dropped off outside Mexico City, a mile away from Iggy's stronghold. With all of Mexico and most of the rest of the world watching, Blu and Jewel began their rampage.

With all the precision of expert assassins, the macaws slashed their way towards the hideout, using the land for cover and eliminating any who dared to stand up to them.

With nothing but their scythe-like claws and bone-crushing strength, Blu and Jewel penetrated the compound within three hours, leaving a smattering of dead and mortally wounded humans in their wake.

Though their Shells were pockmarked from bullet impacts and scratched from knife blades, they were eager to finish the fight. They slipped their way through the expansive hideout, silently killing all hostiles they encountered.

When all but the big man himself was left, Blu and Jewel found him defiantly standing in the doorway of a posh room, AK-47 at the ready. With twenty guards flanking him, all heavily armed, it seemed an unfair match.

That was not the case.

While bearing the brunt of lead showers from all directions, Blu and Jewel routed the enemy soldiers. However, Blu unfortunately took a clip-full of bullets in the back, and the short range allowed the pellets to penetrate his Shell deep enough to cause serious damage.

With her mate incapacitated – yet still conscious – Jewel redoubled her efforts to avoid being taken down herself.

She slaughtered the last ten humans with blind rage, but before the man behind it all could be captured, he committed suicide before Blu and Jewel's eyes.

Too consumed with worry for her mate, she did not care, and so she left the coward's headless body behind while airlifting Blu to safety.

With the operation declared a success, the president of Mexico bestowed award medals to the macaws, while thoroughly honoring the humans for their groundbreaking work in creating Blu and Jewel.

Julius and his diminished team remained in Mexico City to repair Blu while the drive-by victims healed, having to craft him an entirely new Shell and re-culture a new feather cloak.

Thankfully, his Scion and Core were spared any trauma, the only consolation conjured by the situation. The humans worked swiftly, having all the materials they required provided to them by the deeply-indebted Mexican authorities.

Blu was brought back to life by the end of the month, around the time that Fred, Karen and Tom made substantially lucky recoveries. After the once-injured parties engaged in a tearful reunion with each other, they departed to the grand U.S.A.

If anything, the 6 month long experience in Mexico had utterly convinced the scientists that there was always a price to pay for upholding the peace. Never again would they endanger the lives of their brainchildren for the sake of vigilante justice.

Little did they know, their intervention in that affair – while strongly supported in Mexico – would sow the seeds of doubt and exploitation elsewhere on Earth.

Upon arriving in the United States, namely Texas, Blu and Jewel's Scions were duplicated as a measure of precaution, as well as the Scions of their progeny. Following the completion of that side task, the true trail of enlightenment for Blu and Jewel's caretakers truly gained a foothold.

Countless expositions of the macaw family were organized and attended, with the masterminds behind them the guests of honor. Many times, Blu and Jewel were there to dispel the mystery of their lives, while Julius's entourage provided a more technical overview of how they were designed and how they operated.

Countless masses of notes and data were scribbled down at each and every site where an expo was held, with the hope that that same technology could be instituted in America.

After spending three years roaming the States, both parties involved knew they had accrued all the support they would ever need, and so all that was left to do was conclude the tour. Overseas they went, sweeping east across Europe at a reasonable pace, spending two years there, and by now holding worldwide fame.

Their reception among the European scientific community was no less divine than their previous visits, but came – unsurprisingly – with added bonuses. Julius and his cohorts were granted the collective honor of three Nobel prizes in Stockholm, Sweden, the reward money totaling five million U.S. Dollars.

Underneath the layers of supremacy, however, swelled undercurrents of displeasure from many observers.

Granted, it was natural for views to vary among the populace, but with such a crowded planet, a noticeable fraction of the humans on Earth bore negative feelings. The traveling stars pushed aside the oppression and growing tides of media outcry, since many more sympathized with them and craved to reproduce the technological marvels.

Russia, India, China, and Japan tacked on another four years to the trip's duration, the media-inspired unrest clinging to the group like a parasite. The Indonesian islands and Australia were set as the final stops for the global trek.

The feathered machines and their compatriots were always thankful of the praise and cheers they received from the enthralled Einsteins of the era, but the length of their trip and anxiety over the uprisings was clearly taking its toll.

Incredibly homesick they were, dying to return to the simplicity and benevolence of life in Rio de Janeiro. They consumed three trying years touring those two areas, counting off each day that brought them closer to their evacuation date.

On a brilliant Australian afternoon in August of 2089, heaving masses of people gathered at the Sydney seaport to bestow farewells upon the dubious travelers. A few riots broke out, incited by the less-than-appreciative onlookers, and the two-species team made a hasty retreat onto their allotted mode of travel.

Rather fittingly, they settled for a ride far more upper-class and convenient than a regular passenger jet, due to the crowded, traffic-laden skies. Instead, they boarded an undersea train that would ship them all the way across the Pacific to their homeland.

It functioned much like the Channel Tunnel, despite being many orders of magnitude more advanced and lengthy. As the shadow of night caught up with the train, turning the sea all around into a creepy black expanse, the humans drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, the feathered beings maintained a constant vigil of the outside world through the vehicle's view-ports. Their advanced vision centers allowed the birds to observe the dark ocean with clarity, spying all manner of creatures navigating the depths, both large and small.

The luxurious vehicle churned its way across the Pacific inside its fortified tunnel at a trance-like pace, balancing travel time with the opportunity to be awed by the wonders of the ocean.

The subsurface taxi erupted from Rio's bay close to noontime, proving to a rude awakening for most of the beings aboard. Groggily, all but Blu and Jewel roused themselves and were lavishly escorted via hover-limo to their jungle abode.

It was going to be a _very _long night for all the individuals involved.

The birds, untainted by the clutches of sleep, ambled through the front door ahead of the humans, which was wide open and drooping from its hinges. They were immediately paralyzed by the disaster in front of them: the interior looked as though a bomb had gone off.

Broken hand-held equipment lay strewn all over. Computers, data storage banks, and manuscripts littered the floor, abused and forgotten. The windows were all shattered, the walls riddled with large chips and gouges.

"Julius, get in here. We've got a hell of a problem!" ordered Blu.

Crackling sounds were heard as the human party came up behind the birds, plastic and glass being crushed beneath their feet.

"By the gods, our lab is wrecked! What happened in here?" questioned the brunette male furiously.

Turning to him with a sour look on his face, Blu retorted, "_That _is the million-dollar question..."

Karen piped up, "We have to search the place, see if we can uncover any clues."

Shaking his head, Julius plodded into the space and screeched, "I know! Get to it then!"

Slowly, carefully, the party disbanded, pecking through the debris inch by inch.

While the children rooted around near the back door of the trashed room, Blu and Jewel scuttled over to the sheltered transfer room, the site of their passing. Finding the door closed, Blu pushed against it with his wing, startling himself and Jewel when it tore away from the wall and slammed onto the floor.

"Yikes! Okay, that's one way to gain entry. You go first, Jewel."

She obeyed wordlessly, clambering over the fallen door and boosting herself onto the bent metal table in the center. While Blu scoured the floor, she slowly raked her gaze around in a complete circle, scrutinizing the walls, counters, and even the ceiling.

Destruction was everywhere, but as far as evidence went, there was none. Gritting her beak, she dropped to the floor in front of her mate, catching his attention.

"Any luck finding out who caused this madness?"

"Sorry Blu, but no."

"Ugh, damn it! Come on, let's go see if the kids had any luck..."

Blu excused himself from the room, his face hard with anger and confusion. Jewel trailed him closely, eying the ground while she walked.

Coming upon her children still plodding around at the rear of the building, she and Blu approached Liliana, the youngest, technically speaking.

"Anything interesting so far, daughter?" Blu asked, frustration lending an edge to his voice.

"Nope. Not yet..." she replied, tossing a shard of glass aside with a flick of her foot.

Blu peered over her and queried, "Ricardo? Vicente? Esperanza? What about you?"

"Sorry Dad, we're still looking..." they murmured in unison.

Turning back to Jewel, he chided, "Do you think the other half of his team could've had something to do with this? Why aren't they here?"

Scratching her head with her wing, Jewel said, "What reason would they have to do so? For all my intelligence, I can't think of one. And perhaps they're out frolicking in Rio. We don't even know if they know this happened. It could've taken place minutes ago."

Lowering his head in a thinking pose, Blu spied something clinging to his mate's foot.

"What the? Lift up your right foot, honey."

"Why?" she countered curiously.

"There's something on it!"

Complying, she extended said foot in Blu's direction.

Blu used his talons to pluck a folded piece of blue paper from one of her own sharp toes. Carefully unfolding it, he noticed a hole where it had been punctured by her talon.

Ignoring the scar, he realized it was a blueprint concerning Blu and Jewel's designs. Seeing nothing of importance there, he flipped it over to the normally blank backing.

His eyes seemed to burn brightly with emotion as he grunted, "Humans, kids, get over here. I believe we've found out whom the culprits are..."

As the others charged over and gathered around Blu, Samuel asked, "What are you holding? What do you mean?"

"Spit it out, Blu! This isn't funny!" pressed Jewel.

"Alright! Be quiet, so I can read it."

Blu better gripped the page with his left talon, giving his head a shake to refocus.

"We hope you enjoy the exciting new look of the lab. Think of it as a going away present from us. Stacy suggested we do it, so she gets all the credit. Anyhow, had we known you would coerce Blu and Jewel into such a heinous act, we never would have let you go. Being as you were in Mexico, we couldn't really stop you. As if that wasn't enough, you allowed them and their kids to be presented at science meets and studied like fantastic toys, with all of you there to support the endeavor without a hint of shame. Julius, you and your colleagues skewed the very purpose of creating the birds. You turned them into objects of worship for your own gain, with no regard for their self-worth or individuality. As far as we are concerned, you are no longer worth working alongside, and thus we have severed all bonds with your entire project. Many millions of people deem you and the others as exploitative, selfish, heartless humans, and quite frankly, we agree with them. We have fled Rio de Janeiro, though we will not reveal our destination. We are in the process of creating a plan to end you and your demonic practices. Once we bring you and your cohorts to justice, the world will see _us _as the heroes. The fame you have worked so hard to culture will become ours, and those countless millions will forever be appreciative of our actions. Be warned, Julius, expect retribution to arrive in many forms. Severe consequences will come to all of you who resist us, whether you are human... or otherwise..."

Blu glanced at the bottom of the note and continued, "Signed by Stacy, Kevin, George, Drake, Sonny, Liam, David, Tyrone, Kelly, and Janice. Created July 17, 2087."

Blu released the crumpled page, unable to find words to describe the treachery behind the chaos. After three full minutes of silence, Tom grasped his hair with his hands.

"Those... bastards! That paper is filled with lies! What on Earth are they thinking?"

Tom's words were quite true, only exacerbating the tense emotions in the room.

"What do they mean by 'expect retribution to arrive in many forms?' " yelled Karen.

"They betrayed us, slandered us and all we've worked for, based on a cluster of uneducated assumptions?" Julius asked fiercely.

He glared down at the macaws, the most victimized of them all.

"Make no mistake, they will pay for this uncouth attack. Rest assured, my avian friends, they will not harm you. While none of us know how they plan to retaliate, I believe we should prepare for the worst..."

While the humans marched around, bewildered and raging, Blu faced his family with an expression of sheer conviction.

"I am wholly convinced that the excrement has just collided with the rotary air circulation device..."

* * *

><p>The torn-up team focused on tidying up the lab and attempting to pinpoint the location of their adversaries.<p>

They set about petitioning various scientific entities to provide them with replacement equipment and supplies. Slowly but surely, aid trickled in, and within two months, most of the building was restocked with crucial tools of the trade.

Not knowing what to expect, the humans opted to conjure up improvements to the macaws that would improve their designs. The first item to come out of their fear-driven work was a mini-turbofan that would grant the birds powered flight.

Nine prototypes were crafted over a period of four months, until a final version was settled on and implanted in all eight machines. Able to be deployed at will, the miniaturized jet engines worked extremely well, boosting the confidence of Julius and his team.

That was the only major structural change bestowed to the birds, as the rest concerned mechanical and electronic upgrades. Their mobility was increased by reworking their joints, their responsiveness augmented by laying down more transmission cables inside their Shells.

Time seemed to rush on by as the researchers toiled away, and by the dawn of the year 2090, they began to wonder if the note was just one giant scare tactic. They took a long-awaited break and slowly restored their appreciation for the simple times.

It was not until July 17th of that year – an especially significant date – that the grim truth was revealed to them.

During the middle of the night, while everyone except Blu and Jewel were snoozing inside the renovated lab, the city of Rio was turned upside down.

A four-hundred strong armada of relatively large birds poured out from a rift of lightning. A few of the more curious townspeople emerged from their homes to investigate the alien experience, only to discover firsthand that what lay in the streets was far from normal.

The birds actually _spoke_ to them, and although the onlookers believed they were sent by that famous group of scientists nearby, that notion changed swiftly.

The armada turned fierce and ordered the civilians to evacuate, lest they be forced to use violence. The humans were not the real targets, but they would become extraneous casualties if they refused.

Fearing for their lives, they complied, piling all they could into their levitating vehicles and streaking away to the northern skies.

News of the intrusion raced across the city like a tsunami, and not thirty minutes after the first sightings, the sky hummed with the soundtrack of thousands of refugees.

Those who were not fortunate to own such lofty means of escape fled on foot, taking with them all they could carry or transport in small carts and baskets.

Seeking the safety of the jungle, thick streams of people filed into the rain-forests all around the city, hoping to survive until the morning light, where they could cross over into the neighboring states.

It was one such river of frightened bipeds that alerted Blu and Jewel to the notion that something very malicious was occurring.

"Hey, wait! Can any of you tell us what's going on?"

Despite Blu's loud queries, the bustling people were simply too panicked to respond.

When a young girl clutching a few precious toys tripped and fell, Jewel saw an opportunity to acquire some answers.

She scampered over to the girl, and after propping her back up on her feet, pleaded, "Why is everyone running away? Please, young one, tell me!"

In a shrill voice – made all the more high-pitched from the stains of fear in her eyes – she cried, "_Eu não entendo Inglês!_" **{I don't understand English!}**

Jewel nodded and repeated, in the native language of Brazil, "_Que diabos está acontecendo na cidade?_" **{What the hell is happening in the city?} **

After gathering her keepsakes, the dirt-caked girl muttered, "_Pássaros do ma estão matando as pessoas que não fuja. Eles estão vindo para cada oito pássaros azuis. Você deve sair, agora!_" **{Evil birds are killing the people who don't run away. They're coming for eight blue birds. You must leave, now!} **

Before she could even say thank you, the victim ran off, finding her way to another who Jewel presumed was the mother.

She then ran over to Blu, who was still begging for answers, and whirled him around with her wings.

"Blu, we have to inform the others! Rio is under attack by birds, and I think I know where they came from..."

Shocked, he stuttered, "Oh no. You don't mean... let's get in there, then!"

Hastily, Blu and Jewel ran around to the side of the structure, smashing their way in through a window. Seeing their comrades huddled up in the center, they quickly announced the situation, persuading them to all stay inside and hunker down.

Their babies wanted to help, but Blu and Jewel wouldn't stand for it, saying that they would defend the building on their own.

Returning to the chaos of the outside world, the adult macaws tried to guide all of the willing refugees into the sanctuary. Small handfuls here and there entered the building, and although it was only a minuscule handful of the total number of escapees, that could not be helped.

As the interior became crammed with sweaty, exhausted bodies, the additional humans crowded behind the building and along its outer walls.

Meanwhile, Blu and Jewel flew over to the beginning of the long-forgotten drive as the river thinned out, awaiting the inevitable arrival of the aggressors.

Blu and Jewel could not directly observe the main sprawl of the city from their location, but faint screams and the whine of accelerating airborne vehicles was an assault on their ears.

"It must be Hell out there," he stated succinctly, "Jewel, get ready, because a fight to the death is close at hand."

Staring into his eyes with fiery malice, she declared, "Trust me, Blu, I will let nothing survive."

Emboldened by her decree, Blu replied, "Agreed, my love. We'll fight through this together..."

As the last of the fleeing bipeds blew past them without so much as a backwards glance, the adult machines stiffened their wills, training their luminous eyes on the plants that cut across the path in front of them.

With the drone of the airborne vehicles still present, any additional sounds were easily detected. As a rustling din poured from the foliage a mere thirty feet from the guardians, three metal birds exploded onto the path – only half the size of the Spix's Macaws, yet still very threatening.

Taking less than a second to identify their enemies, they charged at Blu and Jewel, turning into thee blurred shapes. Two of them were dispatched with relative ease, but the third, a Military Macaw, took advantage of the distraction.

Leaping on Blu's back, he tackled him to the ground, stabbing two of his talons into Blu's neck. The drawback of the cables that controlled his Shell was that any damage he suffered was converted into a familiar stimulus: pain.

Unable to hold back the mind-bending fire that stunned his system, he cried out, "Ahhh! Jewel, help!"

Rushing to his aid, she tore the grinning macaw from his back and wrenched his head off, separating Core from Scion and nullifying the threat permanently.

Blu was jerked back to his feet with Jewel's aid, and she proceeded to ask him quickly, "Are you hurt badly? Can you still function at maximum capability?"

Being that no more pain wracked his body, he determined that the holes in his neck were merely flesh wounds, so to speak.

"No, I'm fine. I won't give up now. The battle's only just started!"

Blu hunkered down next to Jewel in an intimidating stance, showing no signs of reluctance or weakness. They were only given a minute to recover before the next wave of enemies confronted them.

The second skirmish was a ten-on-two affair, and both Spix's Macaws flexed their talons in preparation for the slaughter...


End file.
